


Freasian Mantal

by Wildrose5494



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Evil Dumbledore, Friends to Lovers, House Elves are awesome, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, SO SORRY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 08:49:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9171805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildrose5494/pseuds/Wildrose5494
Summary: Harry Potter is desolate. Abandoned by his friends and those he thought of as family, he's once again been left at the Dursley's house for the summer. Though on his birthday he comes into a strange inheritance, and things suddenly begin to make sense! He discovers many things about himself, and things he wished he hadn't discovered become known.  Also posted on ffn.





	1. Inheritances of the Painful Sort

Harry Potter stared out between the bars of his bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive, and thought about this last year. His Godfather was gone. The never coming back kind of gone and Harry didn’t know what he was going to do about that. His Uncle Vernon had already started in with the beatings again, and was threatening with worse, but Harry just couldn’t find it in him to care. He was so deep in his mind and depression that he didn’t even notice as the fat tears started to fall down his face, or the rain that started to suddenly fall outside in the previously clear skies.

He was so tired of losing his loved ones, and of everyone expecting him to defeat the Dark Lord, even if he had successfully killed Voldemort because of Sirius’ death. Not to mention Ron, one of his first ever friends, had turned his back on him once again. Just like in Fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament.

Hermione was stuck in the middle. She loved Harry like a brother, but she loved, or at least liked Ron, as more than that.

Harry didn’t hold this indecision against her. In fact he didn’t expect anyone to really side with him. At this point he simply wanted the pain to end.

Unfortunately for him, if he tried to kill himself, Dumbledore would know. For he had set up several new wards around Number Four, to prevent Harry from running away or offing himself. Harry couldn’t leave the land that Number Four sat upon without being dragged back within the wards instantly, and in a very violent and painful manner.

The ‘Savior’ of the wizarding world didn’t look much like a savior at all. In fact he was a thin, waif-like boy. His huge, expressive, and normally bright, emerald green eyes were a dull, lifeless green staring out the window sightlessly. There were several bruises on his face along with some old scars. His entire body was covered with bruises and scars, both old and new. All from his Uncle Vernon and Dudley. Aunt Petunia never raised a hand to him, but then again, Uncle Vernon beat her as well.

No one outside of the house could tell that the ‘happy family’ within was anything but happy. Harry had once upon a time tried to tell the Weasley’s, but Mrs. Weasley had said that it simply couldn’t be true. The only two who really believed it was bad were Fred and George, but when they had tried to tell her it was the truth she had told them to stop lying and to go de-gnome the garden.

Instead they had started slipping him more food in his weekly packages. Unfortunately Vernon had seen one close to the start of this summer and had mercilessly snapped Hedwig’s neck right in front of Harry. He had gone through the next three weeks in a robotic sort of way. He stopped speaking period, and he had wandlessly warned any owl he had met that they shouldn’t come anywhere near him.

He had been able to do things like that for the last two weeks. Talk mind to mind with animals. He was also more successful at gardening. Aunt Petunia’s garden looked better than it ever had before. Which of course, had all of her neighbors in a tizzy. The house too looked fantastic. Harry didn’t know what was happening, but his Uncle had been on a trip for three weeks and hadn’t gotten home until yesterday morning. He had of course assumed that Harry had been at his ‘freakish ways’ again, and had used his magic to make everything so amazing looking. He had proceeded to beat Harry to within an inch of his life, and then he had locked him in his bedroom for the last two days. For it was now the evening of the next day, and Harry hadn’t eaten in three days.

Even though tomorrow was his sixteenth birthday, Harry was not excited. He had thought he would be at the Burrow by now with the Weasley family, but no one had come to get him. He thought to himself that he shouldn’t have even bothered to hope that someone could care for his ‘freakish’ self. He was just a freak anyway. No one could love a freak. No one would want to be friends with a freak like him. That was what Uncle Vernon always said to him anyway.

He of course believed it. He didn’t think anyone could really love him, want him, or be friends with him. Why would they want to? He was always getting people killed, or hurt because of his curiosity and his rushing headfirst into things. Because he thought the wrong things. He had thought Snape was trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone, had gotten Ron and Hermione hurt, and had almost died himself but had instead killed a Professor. Then he had gone into the Chamber of Secrets with Ron and Professor Lockhart had tried to obliviate them, but instead had obliviated himself with Ron’s broken wand. Harry had saved Ginny, but almost died again. Then Sirius had escaped from Azkaban in his third year, and had hurt Ron trying to get to Peter Pettigrew who was the true Secret Keeper for his parents. Instead Pettigrew had escaped, Professor Lupin had turned into his werewolf form, Harry and Hermione had saved Sirius and the Hippogriff Buckbeak using a Time-Turner, and they escaped. Harry and Sirius had almost been Kissed by Dementors though. Then in his Fourth year the Triwizard Tournament had been hosted at Hogwarts and even though he was too young, Harry’s name had come out of the Goblet and he became a Champion. Harry had come close to dying several times between the Tasks of the Tournament, the fake Professor Moody, watching Cedric die, seeing Voldemort return and then dueling him and barely escaping back to Hogwarts and avoiding death from said fake professor.

This last year had been the worst though. Umbridge and her craziness as the Chief Inspector, plus leading the DA. He had been in Voldemort’s mind all year and had thought Sirius had been taken. Of course he hadn’t, but Harry had gone to the Ministry anyway and Luna, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny had followed him. Sirius hadn’t been there, but Death Eaters were. Then the Order came, and Sirius fought beside Harry, but Bellatrix had gotten in a lucky spell and Sirius had gone through the Veil. Which the Ministry said was one way. Harry in his rage had gone after Bellatrix, but Voldemort had appeared and he and Harry had battled it out. Voldemort had tried to possess him, but Harry had defeated him with the power of love. That was what Dumbledore said anyway. Harry wasn’t sure he believed him. After all, it was Dumbledore’s fault that all of this came about anyway. Voldemort probably would have turned out much nicer if he hadn’t been sent back to that Orphanage every summer. 

Now though, Harry had become a prisoner. The Ministry didn’t know what to do with him, and Dumbledore wouldn’t let him leave Privet Drive. His Uncle was likely to beat him to death before the school year even came close to starting.

“BOY!”

Harry jerked out of his stupor and went to stand next to the right side of the door. He heard his Uncle unlocking the many locks on the door.

As it opened his Uncle sneered at him, and said “Go fix supper Freak. And don’t burn any of it.” His Uncle turned and waddled back down the stairs. Harry followed slowly after him, pushing the overly large sleeves of the hand me down sweater up his thin arms. He started cooking immediately upon reaching the kitchen and the stove.

He was just pulling the final pot off the burner and reaching to turn it off, when Dudley came up behind him and held his forearm down on the burner. Tears sprung into Harry’s eyes and he bit his lower lip so he wouldn’t make any noises. He bit it so hard that he started to bleed. Only when his Uncle could smell burning flesh did he yell at Dudley to ‘let the freak go so he could bring them supper.’ Duddly did so with a smirk on his face. Harry quickly put the food on the table and retreated to the farthest corner of the kitchen.

Once they were finished eating and had waddled to the sofa to watch the telly, Petunia helped Harry to put the few left overs up, since Vernon had said that Harry wasn’t allowed any food for a week for using his ‘freakishness.’ They then washed the dishes, and Petunia locked him back in his bedroom. A little while later though she slipped a glass of water, burn salve, and some pain medicine into his room through the cat flap in the door. Harry was thankful for small mercies. He took the pills and applied the salve. He hadn’t been able to steal any pain potions since he had been rushed straight to Privet Drive after the battle at the Ministry.

Harry was once again standing at the window staring outside. He looked at the clock in his room that read 11:45. The four and five were hard to read since the clock had been thrown against the wall by Dudley when he couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Harry sighed and thought to himself ‘fifteen minutes until my sixteenth birthday. It’s just another year of torture to come.’ Harry lay down on his bare mattress on the floor. He watched the clock change numbers as the minutes went by. Soon it read 11:58.

Two minutes. Harry started to feel a weird tingling in his bones.

One minute. The tingling was starting to hurt now.

Midnight. Harry’s body arched up off of the bed as it felt like his whole body caught fire. His bones felt like they were stretching, and he opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He felt as if his skin was stretching in impossible ways. The pain was unimaginable even one of his Uncle’s most enraged beatings wasn’t even half as painful as this pain was. Even five minutes under the Cruciatus wasn’t as painful. He felt blood pouring out of his nose, and it felt like his fingers were turning into claws. His back hurt the most though, and suddenly he felt blood under his back, and when he sat up he felt something sprout out of his back. All he could recognize was pain though, and he soon passed out from it.


	2. Overly-Hyperactive House Elves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to try and update this every day until it is caught up with its ffnet sister. Which is only 8 chapters anyway right now. The first few chapters are rather, erm well, extremely short. They do get a bit longer though.

When Harry awoke the next morning, before the sun rose as he usually did, he could feel the wet blood that was still on his back and also on his mattress. He sat up slowly, and the room was blurry around him. He touched his face to see if his glasses were there. They were. When he took them off he could see clearly.

He blinked several times in amazement. He ran his hand through his hair, but felt something strange on the side. He carefully ran his hand over it. It appeared to be a horn. He put his other hand on the opposite side. He felt a horn there too. Harry’s eyes went wide as saucers.

He had horns.

Why did he have horns?

He went to stand, and as soon as he made it to his feet he felt a draft on his back. He reached an arm over and touched what felt like feathers. He looked over his shoulder and saw what looked like white wings.

At this point Harry was just amazed. He had become even more freakish. He quickly put up a glamour, when he heard someone unlocking all of the locks on his door.

“Harry?” whispered his Aunt’s voice through the crack in the door. “How is your burn?”

Harry dropped his glamour and looked down at his arm. There wasn’t a burn there. His magic transformation into whatever he was must have fixed him. He had no bruises, and no scars. There wasn’t anything wrong with him physically. At all. His first thought was that his Uncle couldn’t see him at all. His second was that this made him an even bigger freak.

“Harry?” whispered his Aunt’s frightened voice once more.

“I need to use the loo Aunt Petunia.” Harry said just as quietly.

“Alright. But please be quick. No one is up yet, but I don’t want you to get into any trouble.” She said quietly. As she slowly opened the door, Harry threw the glamour back up and walked quickly past her.

Once he was safely in the bathroom, he dropped the glamour. He stared at himself in amazement.

He had two medium sized, white horns on the top of his head, and a pair of small, white feathered wings sprouting from his back. His eyes were the emerald of the Avada Kedavra curse and they looked even more mesmerizing than they had before. He had a small, pert nose and high cheekbones. He had wider hips, and a smaller waist than he had yesterday. In addition he had no physical imperfections, and his ears were pointed. His hair was much longer and thicker too.

What was he now? Besides more of a freak. He shook his head and looked at the shower. How could he take a shower with his wings out? He thought about them disappearing, and felt them start to retract into his back. It was painful. He ran a hand over his head and thought about his horns disappearing. Then he clutched his head in agony as they retracted back into his head as well.

Once he was able to stand straight again, he took a quick shower. After he finished his Aunt locked him back into his room. He let his horns and wings reappear. It wasn’t painful to let them out, just to keep them hidden evidently. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He put his head in his hands. Then he sat up suddenly. He could call for Dobby! Surely Dobby would know what sort of creature he was! He snapped his fingers and said “Dobby.” Instantly the eccentric House Elf appeared.

The Elf was looking down at his feet. “What can Dobby be doing for Master-“ at that point the Elf looked up and went wide eyed. “Harry Potter sir! Yous is a Freasian Mantal!”

Harry stared at the Elf in a bewildered manner. “I’m a what?”

“Freasian Mantal! Dobby has never met one! Only heard of them! But Dobby thought they were only tales to be told to children and small House Elfs! Dobby never thought they really existed!”

“Dobby what exactly is a Freasrn Mehtale?”

“Freasian Mantal Master Harry Potter sir. Yous is one. They is highly magical, mythical beings. They only help and heal. They is better at House Elf things than a House Elf is. Small House Elfs is told that if they don’t do their best each and every day at everything they do then the Freasian Mantal be coming to teach them how to do it better.”

“Dobby that still doesn’t tell me what I am.”

“Dobby will bring Master Harry Potter a book sir that tells you all about what yous is. But Dobby needs be taking Master Harry Potter somewhere safe first. For Master Harry Potter can’t be staying with his relatives because he will start summoning his mates to himself, but first he needs to be in a safe place to consummate and bring small children into world.”

By the end of Dobby’s speech, Harry’s eyes were as big as they had been earlier this morning. Dobby grabbed his wrist and then they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I adore the Kudos I have gotten so far, and am excited for any more to come, or reviews or subscriptions or bookmarks. 
> 
> They all make me happy. ^_^


	3. Meetings With an Ancestress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always worry that I am misspelling ancestress..... But every time I spell it correctly. *shrugs* Who knows man. Who knows.

When they finally landed, and Harry opened his eyes all he saw around him was a crème colored room. Everything from the couches to the wall was a crème color. The floor though, was tile of a beautiful blue color.

“Dobby where did you bring me to?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“Dobby has brought Master Harry Potter to his ancestral home. Master Harry Potter is once again in Potter Manor. Nobody can forcefully take Master Harry Potter from this mansion without Master Harry Potter’s express wish to leave.” Dobby said his with a flourish.

Harry looked around amazed. “You mean I don’t have to leave? And no one can force me to?”

“Of course not young man. I don’t know why anyone would force you to leave anyway. The House Elf holding your arm is correct. You are a Potter. One of the oldest magical lines in the entire wizarding world.” The voice that said this was cultured, elegant, and female. Harry looked to his right, which was where the voice had come from, and saw a portrait of an elegantly dressed woman with black hair, white horns, red, brown and blonde colored wings and pointed ears. “There hasn’t been a male submissive Freasian Mantal in the Potter family in over five generations. But I am excited to welcome you to this ancestral home, and I look forward to teaching you many things. As will all of the other Potter family portraits.”

Harry could only stare amazed up at the woman. Who was quickly becoming slightly flustered and frustrated with the silent boy in front of her. “Excuse me young man, but it is quite rude to stare.”

Harry blushed. “I’m sorry miss. I just was never told that I had an ancestral home. I also have no clue who any of you are. I’m just very confused and – “

Before he could get another word out of his mouth the woman interrupted him. “You don’t know who we are? How can you not know who your ancestors are?!? How is it that your parents failed to introduce you to your family portraits?!” The woman in the portrait sounded outraged.

Harry looked down. “My parents died when I was one. They were murdered by a man I killed this past year. Not even four months ago.” Harry was looking down at his bare feet, so he didn’t see the woman’s horrified expression.

“Oh you poor dear. Submissives are not meant to kill unless they are protecting their children or injured dominant. Even then the other dominants are supposed to be protecting them. Where are your dominants?”

Harry had looked up when she said ‘other dominants’. “What do you mean other dominants? I’m going to have more than one?”

“Of course dear. You will have however many it takes to become with child, and then one who will help you stay sane. A ‘grounding mate’ if you will.”

Harry looked extremely flustered at this, and simply stared with a wide-eyed expression up at the woman.

The woman in the portrait sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Dear what is your name? And how long has it been since you received your inheritance?”

“Um well….” Harry looked down at his feet again. “Today is officially my birthday, so I haven’t had it very long. My name is Harry James Potter miss.”

“My name is Evangelina dear. And I am very glad that your House Elf here was able to bring you to us so very quickly. We shall start teaching you all that we can immediately. For soon you will start calling your dominants to you, and well. I’m sure you can guess what will happen after that.”

Harry looked shyly up at the woman. “No Miss Evangelina. I’m not really sure what happens.”

The woman looked flustered and outraged again. “Did the wizards who adopted you teach you nothing at all about submissive creatures?!?! Heavens what is this world coming to?!?”

Harry looked very much embarrassed. “I lived with my muggle relatives Miss. They didn’t like magic at all.” As Harry said this his eyes went slightly vacant as if he was trapped in a memory of something unpleasant. Anything to do with remembering what had happened while he was with the Dursely’s was unpleasant though.

Evangelina looked horrified. “A Potter. Was left. With. Muggles?!?” She made a strangled distressed noise and quickly there were three men in the portrait with her.

Harry was jerked out of his memories when he heard several different male voices asking what was wrong. Was she hurt. Who hurt her. Along with many statements of sworn vengeance on whomever had hurt her in any way. Harry smiled a little smile at the men’s antics.

Finally Evangelina made shushing noises, and looked horrified. “No one hurt me! No one needs to be hurt. Just hush!” All of the men stopped talking and just stared at her. “I’m just distressed that someone left a young submissive Freasian Mantal Potter, with MUGGLES.” The men looked outraged when she said this, and looked out of the portrait to see who exactly she was talking about. At this point Harry had sat down on the floor and drawn his knees up to his chest, and hidden his face by laying it on his knees, and allowing his hair to fall down over him.

“Young man,” asked one of the deeper male voices. “Is this the truth?”

Harry looked up at the painting through his hair. “Yes sir.” He said quietly, yet loud enough to be heard clearly. The men looked aghast, and outraged.

“Why?” asked a lighter voice.

Harry looked down. “Because the Headmaster of my school said I was safest from Voldemort, the Dark Lord I killed, there. That was before I killed him though. After I killed him, Professor Dumbledore, my Headmaster, said I was safer there behind the blood wards since some Death Eaters were still on the loose. I don’t think that was right though, since the only ones left were the ones who were forced to take the mark. Not that there are that many of them, but they certainly don’t want to kill me.”

There was silence after Harry said this. He peeked up through his hair to see all of the people in the portrait just staring at him, and Evangelina looking like she was about to faint or something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a short chapter, but this is again me playing catch-up with the ffn one, and also working on the latest chapter when my muse and laptop allow me to. 
> 
> Anyway, Kudos and comments, Subscriptions and bookmarks make my day/night!


	4. Views of the Mates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter for today! Yay.  
> Also this is the start of longer chapters.

The man who was the largest in the portrait, who appeared to be the oldest of the four, and had his long red hair pulled back into a pony tail, looked up at the ceiling and pinched the bridge of his nose, while the other two, a blonde and a brunette respectively, looked at Harry in shock.

Harry himself was looking back down at his feet. That meant he couldn’t see the outraged expression on Evangelina’s face, or the angry looks on the younger men in the portrait. Harry chewed on his bottom lip, and looked up out from under his bangs at the people in the portrait. He saw that they looked angry, and started to shake. ‘What did I do? Are they going to make me leave? Will I have to go back to the Dursley’s? No. No I’m never going back there. No matter what, I will never return there for good. Never, ever again will I be his servant, or his punching bag. No.' Harry continued to shake, not looking up from his feet. Evangelina though, noticed Harry’s pensive and distraught expression, and her own softened.

“Harry” Evangeline called. “Harry look at me.” Harry slowly looked up, and peered at her through his bangs. “Sweetie, you don’t ever have to go back to them. This, this is your home now if you want it to be.”

Harry smiled, and everyone in the portrait had wide eyes. For just that one true smile, transformed Harry into one of the most radiant and beautiful people in the world.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

He woke shaking in a cold sweat, and he ran an unstable hand through his brunette hair, and closed his brown eyes, slowly exhaling a breath and trying to unsuccessfully calm his racing heart. He had known this day was coming, but he had hoped it wouldn’t or that it wouldn’t happen to so soon, or at all, but it seemed he had hoped in vain. He had felt his mate come into his inheritance, and he was afraid. He did not want to be like his father in any way shape or form. He had hoped to be one of the mate-less, but what was seen as a curse by most and would have been a relief to him, was evidently not going to be his blessing from fate. Perhaps his blessing was that he and his little sister had escaped from his father relatively unharmed, and from the Dark Lord his father served and wanted him to serve as well.

He slowly placed his feet on the rug covering the wood floor by his bed, and carefully made his way around the obstacles in his bedroom to the window. He looked out over the moonlit forest and after seeing that everything was still and as calm as the forest normally was, and then looked up at the almost full moon and sighed. Thankfully this property was not known to any of his so-called “friends” at school, since said “friends” looked upon him as a traitor to their house. The very house the Dark Lord had come from. This property was not known to his father either, since his favorite Uncle who had been removed from the family tapestry had been the one to bequeath it to him in his will. The fact that his father didn’t know about it made it safe for him and his sister to stay there, since his father had escaped the Ministry’s rounding up of the Death Eaters after Harry Potter had killed the Dark Lord in the Ministry of Magic this past year.

It was only after Harry disappeared back to wherever he went during the summers between school years that the rumors and speculation started. Some said that Harry killed the Dark Lord with a wandless and wordless Avada Kedavra. Others said it was some sort of unknown magic, dark or light, and that Harry should be found and brought to justice for murdering someone with it, but those voices were mostly drowned out by the voices yelling and screaming and singing Harry’s praises. They kept bothering Dumbledore about it being safe now for Harry to be brought to live again in the magical world, but Dumbledore simply told them all that as long as there were still free Death Eaters running about, then as Harry’s magical guardian it was his job to keep him safe, and safe for Harry was an unknown location somewhere in muggle Britain.

Of course there were quite a few who disagreed with Dumbledore’s decision. In particular the Weasleys, not unusual, but surprisingly enough too, Draco Malfoy. Apparently at some point in the year prior to the death of the darkest wizard known to their world since Grindelwald, Harry and Draco had gotten over their petty and childish rivalry. Oh they still verbally sparred, but Draco and his mother had not wanted to follow Lucius in bowing and scraping and hem-kissing at the feet of a deranged psychopath.

Suffice to say he was not the only outcast among the Slytherin house. Well, outside of the families that had managed to stay neutral in both wars anyway. The Zabinis had managed again to stay neutral as had the Krum family from Bulgaria along with the Pucey Family. No one in Slytherin could be accused of having joined the Light at least, so no one was publicly ostracized, since above all Slytherin House at least appeared to be united together to the other three houses. Not even Draco was publicly ostracized although he had managed to keep his friendship with Harry a secret, and only himself and perhaps a few others had even noticed the difference in their actions and reactions to each other.  
“Brother? Are you alright?” Came a feminine voice from the doorway to his room, and he turned from the window and padded over to a younger than him girl.

“Yes Abigail. I’m fine. I’m just thinking little sister.” He smiled at the young blonde girl.

She smiled up at him. “What are you thinking about big brother?”

“Our future little sister. Our future.”

“Will it be good brother? Or is it bad like father?”

The older boy smiled even wider than he had. “I do believe that it will be like the best of dreams. One that seems impossible but is in reality even better than you ever dreamed it was.” He gave the girl a hug, and walked her back to her room before returning to his own. He wasn’t exactly sure that he had told his sister the truth. He knew things would change, but if they changed for the better or worse he still did not yet know. He was not even sure that he truly wanted to know either.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

A dark red dragon looked up at the sky as a man walked up to it. “Easy there Tiki. What’s the matter with you?” Suddenly the tall man stiffened and saw a vision of a delectable young man with the brightest green eyes he had ever seen in his life.

He was a little confused though, because he saw that his mate, for that was what this young man was to him, was going through all sorts of pain. His mate should never experience any sort of pain! Not if he could help it anyway. He had to find him, had to show him that he was loved, but where was he?

The tall, red head patted the dragon on his neck, and the dragon purred because the hands petting her were burning hot, and felt amazing to her. The man looked up at the sky, and watched as another vision rolled across his mind.

_~HJP~_

_The Elf was looking down at his feet. “What can Dobby be doing for Master-“ at that point the Elf looked up and went wide eyed. “Harry Potter sir! Yous is a Freasian Mantal!”_

_Harry stared at the Elf in a bewildered manner. “I’m a what?”_

_“Freasian Mantal! Dobby has never met one! Only heard of them! But Dobby thought they were only tales to be told to children and small House Elfs! Dobby never thought they really existed!”_

_“Dobby what exactly is a Freasrn Mehtale?”_

_“Freasian Mantal Master Harry Potter sir. Yous is one. They is highly magical, mythical beings. They only help and heal. They is better at House Elf things than a House Elf is. Small House Elfs is told that if they don’t do their best each and every day at everything they do then the Freasian Mantal be coming to teach them how to do it better.”_

_“Dobby that still doesn’t tell me what I am.”_

_“Dobby will bring Master Harry Potter a book sir that tells you all about what yous is. But Dobby needs be taking Master Harry Potter somewhere safe first. For Master Harry Potter can’t be staying with his relatives because he will start summoning his mates to himself, but first he needs to be in a safe place to consummate and bring small children into world.”_

_By the end of Dobby’s speech, Harry’s eyes were as big as they had been earlier this morning. Dobby grabbed his wrist and then they were gone._

_~HJP~_

The tall dominant had an amazed look on his face. He had of course loved the younger male since he had first seen him, but for him to be his mate! It was a truly wonderful thing. He smiled a wide grin, and raised his arms up to link his hands behind his head.

“Don’t worry Harry. No matter how my littlest brother feels, you are mine, and you won’t ever be alone ever again. I’ll love you for all of our lives. I’ve already waited so long for you, and nothing will stop me from having you.” The tall redhead patted the dragon on the neck one last time before heading down a slope towards a settlement that was spread out in a valley between two tall mountains containing numerous caves. He had to begin packing and now.

For soon, all too soon, he would be with his mate.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

The dark skinned male shuddered, and closed his eyes as he felt his mate come into his inheritance. He had of course known who his mate was for quite a while, but he hadn’t been sure that his Harry would receive his inheritance with all the magic blockers that had been on him. It had caused him quite a bit of worry. It seemed that it hadn’t really truly stopped his inheritance from happening, although he wouldn’t know until he came upon his mate in person.

He felt a huge wave of happiness, and let out a giant sigh of relief. He would finally be able to get close to his mate. He wouldn’t have to worry about what any of the other Gryffindors thought of him, or hiding himself any longer. He wouldn’t have to worry about anyone persecuting him for being a so called “dark” creature, because no matter what he would always have his mate.

He opened his eyes and walked to the door of the house he lived in by himself since his species separated from their families upon reaching the age of fourteen and lived alone until they mated if they indeed ever mated, and opened it stepping out onto the wraparound porch. The wind off the Bayou swirled around him, and the frogs and crickets could be heard making their night-time noises. The moon made the shadows under the trees more pronounced. He stared up at the moon and he had the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

A hint of fang could be seen in the smile, and had anyone else seen him at this point from his house no one would have even recognized him. The skin that was visible to any viewer was covered in small scales since he preferred to remain in his half-form when he was at home. Especially since during the year he wasn’t able to transform fully, or even partially all that frequently. He was usually too worried that someone would see him in one of his other forms or even worse in the middle of a transformation. Here though, here he was safe from everything and anything.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be together sssooon, and then everything will be okay. I promissse.” After a few more minutes he closed his eyes to get a better idea of where his mate was in the world. It was farther than he had first thought, but everything would work out. It just meant he needed to start packing now, so he could start on his journey sooner rather than later.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

He stopped where he was in the air, and his eyes fluttered shut. His mate! Finally, after waiting for so long, and being disappointed when he couldn’t immediately feel his mate within a year of his own inheritance, his mate had finally come of age.

This was his second chance at a family. He would not lose this one without a fight, and he would make sure to be there every second to keep it safe. He could play Quidditch anywhere and any team would be happy to have him.

He heard one of his teammates call out to him, and turned to look. It was 90 to 110 with their team winning. The question was should he catch the snitch now, or wait until there was not even a single chance of the other team catching up or winning at all?

With the way his teammates were signaling him, they wanted this game to be over. To be fair, it had already gone on for five hours, so it wasn’t all that unbelievable. The French team was very good, and his teammates had had to work very hard for every single goal. 

It only took him a few moments to locate the snitch, and then he was after it like the star Seeker he was. Within a few moments the French Seeker was following him, but evidently was not even half as good as he was. Seconds later he had caught the snitch for his team.

He wasn’t really paying attention to any of that though. He didn’t pay attention to the reporters, or the rest of his teammate’s conversations as they headed to their locker rooms to shower and change. He thought he heard their manager say something about having two months off before their next match, and then something about everyone being expected to be at the practices except for him since his Bearer had Owled about a family emergency of some sort.

When he finally came to, he was already in his hotel room, sitting on his bed with a letter from his fathers in his hand.

_Darling Son,_

Definitely a letter from his Bearer, which worried him just a bit. After all his papa did not like to write unless it was for a very good reason. He preferred to talk to someone through the floo, two-way mirrors, or just plain in person.

_I saw you finally meeting your mate. I must say he is a darling young man. A Freasian Mantal will be a wonderful addition to our family. I am quite certain that once everything has been taken care of you will bring him to meet your father and I. We expect to see you at Christmas, and if not here then a Portkey would be appropriate._

Well that was just great. Exactly what he wanted to know. His papa always knew what to say. Well besides the thinly veiled order disguised as a request.

_Do not worry about practice, since a mate is much more important than that Quidditch you love so much. I have told your Manager, a distasteful man might I add, that you have a family emergency here at home._

Well, that was a problem that was no longer a problem.

_Darling, I just had to let you know that you will face a lot of problems. Not everyone will like the situation you and your mate and Circle will be in, but you have to remain strong, and help the others to as well._

What did that mean? ‘Face a lot of problems.’ What sort of problems? Was someone going to try and take his mate from him? That wouldn’t be allowed. He growled possessively. This was HIS mate! HIS life! HIS family! No one would be allowed to take it from him in any way.

_Darling you will find him soon, of this I am sure. I saw you with him before the second full moon from now. You will of course not be the only one, but I do not foresee any large problems among your future family. Some small ones, but those come with every relationship and family._  
_Your brothers will be so very happy to learn of your mating. I expect you to write all of us within a week of finding your mate, so that we may plan accordingly._  
_All of our love,_  
_Your Papa and Father_

Well. Obviously his Papa had Seen many things, and expected him to get right on the path of finding his mate. He started his packing, and by the time he had finished the sun had sunk below the horizon, and the night-life of Wizarding Paris was picking up.

He stepped out onto the balcony, and stared down at all of the wizards wandering about. He knew his mate wasn’t here, but he was close. Closer than he would have been had he been in his home country.

He would find him. First he would rest, but tomorrow with the sun he would set out on his journey to find and claim his mate.

With a decisive nod of his head, the famous Seeker went back into his room, closing the balcony doors behind him.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

The trees told him first. They whispered to him that he would finally have to pick one of them, because his mate had finally Called. Called for all of his mates, and he was one of them.

He took a deep breath. He could feel The Call of his submissive deep in his bones, which meant his mate was rather close.

Really close in fact.

Close enough to be right next door.

Except there wasn’t anything next door. On either side of this ancestral home of theirs.

At least he thought there wasn’t.

Something could be hidden on either side under a Fidelius Charm.

How was he to find out if a house was hidden on either side though? He could of course ask the trees. They wouldn’t always answer him back though, since he hadn’t chosen one species of tree to bind himself to. He just didn’t want to end up with a tree that got cut down. Like his father had.

He shook his head. No use thinking of such things, especially since he finally felt his mate’s call. He wondered briefly what creature his mate was. He hoped for someone sweet and kind and beautiful, and the complete opposite of any of the women his mother had wanted him to marry if he couldn’t find his mate.

Thankfully he wouldn’t have to marry a woman. He could thankfully enough tell from The Call that his mate was male. Fates be praised. His mother might be sad for a little while, since most male submissives had more than one mate, which meant she would have to wait for a little while for grandchildren. He was okay with that though. He didn’t know if he’d be a good father. His own had died before he was even six months old. All of the Stepfathers his mother had married afterwards hadn’t been very good examples of fatherhood either.

He sighed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. He stood up from the bench in his family’s Orchard and stretched in such a way as to make his back pop. He had been sitting bent over with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hand for several hours. He had escaped here after his mother’s latest “tea with an old friend and his/her daughter(s)” set-up to get him to meet more appropriate young women. He didn’t want to return to the sun lounge and make his apologies to the young woman and her mother right now though.

So he went off in a random direction. Away from his house. He kicked a random rock as he walked, thinking about nothing in particular, yet everything. From the defeat of the Dark Lord this past year, to the young man who had defeated the notoriously evil man. He was thankful though, since it meant he no longer had to respond to the man’s “join me or die” letters with their family’s official Letter of Neutrality. Which was good since it didn’t seem as if the Dark Lord was willing to accept that as his final answer for his entire family.

Suddenly he kicked the rock harder than he had been, and it vanished.

Obviously he had found the house that was next door to his own home, and it was definitely hidden under some sort of charm. He kept walking forward, and was rebuffed by an unseen barrier.

He closed his eyes, and felt for the bond created by The Call from his mate. It was much stronger now, and he could only assume that this was where his mate was. Now his only question was how to get in there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo it's getting closer to being at the same amount of chapters as its ffnet counterpart.


	5. First Mate, and a Forest?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucky ducklings that you all are, two chapters again today! Here is 1/2. Enjoy.

Harry lay on the bed in the master bedroom, twisting and turning in the sheets. So many hands! All running over him in such a worshipful manner. It was a pleasant torture to a young man who had never even dared to touch himself for fear that Vernon would stumble upon him, and beat him to death or do something even worse than that.

But this, this was amazing. He could feel something building up, and right before it was released he awoke, panting. He sat up and noticed that he was hard. Harry bit his bottom lip and stared. That had never happened to him before! Of course, as Evangelina had explained with the help of the oldest male in the painting, Ramses, that he wouldn’t have truly felt any attraction because of his dormant creature genes. They would have influenced him enough, that he wouldn’t have wanted to actually date anyone, and would have wanted even less to be attracted to someone.

This was obvious in view of the disaster that the date with Cho Chang last year, wet kiss indeed. He hadn’t really felt anything towards her, and he simply met up with Hermione after it was over, which probably seemed like he was a player to anyone else, except that Hermione was more like his sister than anything else. Well, was more like his sister, since she wasn’t talking to him anymore after Ron told him to stay away from him and the other Weasleys. He didn’t even know if the Twins would still talk to him, after he had defeated Voldemort. No one that he knew from the Wizarding World had even attempted to contact him. Ron had verbally assaulted him in the Hospital Wing after he had finally awoken from the Battle of the Ministry, as it was known.

Although he was rather sure that if he were to ask the Twins if they were still his friends, they would say yes. If only out of obligation since he was their silent backer, except Harry wanted them to be his friends because they wanted to be his friends, and not because they felt they had to be his friends.

He could of course admit his attraction to a few certain males, but Evangelina had told him that meant they were the ones he would Call to him.

That was another thing that puzzled him. This whole Calling thing. He didn’t remember letting out any noise, and he certainly hadn’t done anything besides wake up and come here upon receiving his inheritance. Evangelina and her blonde mate, who Harry had thought looked an awful lot like a Malfoy and had found out that he was in fact Ares Malfoy, had explained that The Call was more a thing that was felt than heard, and more of an instinctive sound that was released during the inheritance, than something that was done consciously. He would be able to release distress calls once he had completely mated his Circle though. The males who were his mates would feel his Call for them wherever they were, and would immediately start the preparations to find and mate with him.

Harry crawled from the middle of the large, luxurious bed, and set his feet on the floor. He stood and stretched his arms backwards then mindlessly grabbed the outfit that the house elves had set out for him.

In the three days that he had been here, he had learned quite a lot. He wasn’t prepared enough though, to lift the various enchantments on the house, and allow any of his mates that were already here to come into the house and begin courting him. He didn’t know if he could stand if any of them rejected him, even if Evangelina told him that wasn’t possible. He couldn’t truly believe that anyone could love him for him, which was mostly in thanks to the Dursleys, but now also in part the Weasleys too. His mates would have to prove themselves to him.

Harry headed out of his room, barely looking at anything around him, a thoughtful expression on his face. Not noticing the people in the paintings following him with their eyes, after he hadn’t responded to their morning greetings, and a few of them following behind him from portrait to portrait, with worried looks on their faces. Harry noticed none of this though, and simply kept walking forward on the path he had already learned by heart, even though he hadn’t been there for even a week yet.

That was another thing he had to figure out. How was he to test them all? How would he have them prove their love for him? He didn’t think that he would believe that they loved him otherwise. Then again maybe he shouldn’t test them at all, but if he didn’t then what would he do? He hadn’t yet asked Evangelina any questions about this yet. He probably should, but he wanted to catch her without any of her mates in her painting with her, which was a difficult thing to do. It seemed there was always at least one with her. Perhaps it was one of their species things? To always have a mate nearby for protection, even though Evangelina had told him that they could protect themselves thanks to their claws, but Harry hadn’t even seen his claws. When he had told Evangelina that she had laughed and Matthias, who was the mate in the picture with her at the time, had simply smiled at Harry. Evangelina had gone on to tell Harry that his claws would only come out in times of sheer distress, when his mates were unable to reach him quickly enough if they could even reach him at all.

Harry supposed he could ask her all the embarrassing questions if it was only Matthias who was with her. He wasn’t as intimidating as the other two were. Matthias was hard to catch in there though. Usually Ares, the Malfoy that no one ever talked about, was the one who was in the painting with Evangelina.

Harry was not paying attention to where he was going on his walk through the manor at all. So it surprised him when he walked right into a door, and then fell on the floor. He rubbed his nose, and then looked up at the door he had run into. It was large, and strangely made out of what looked like an actual tree. Not a wooden door, but a literal tree door. It had its own door handle made out of what looked like a wooden ball. He tilted his head to the side and leaned back on his arms staring puzzled at it. In all of his explorations he had never come upon this door. He thought that he had surely been all over the mansion by now, even if he had yet to truly explore all of the rooms, and yet here was a door he hadn’t seen. Perhaps he had simply missed this one?

Harry pushed himself up to where he was sitting on his knees, and stared at the door in front of him. He didn’t know what type of tree it was, but he could tell that it was old. Very, very old. Maybe as old as the huge Oak tree that had been in the park down the road from Number Four. It didn’t look like that tree had though, so Harry didn’t think that the tree was an Oak.

He slowly stood up, and as he touched the door handle he felt a small shock and then a slight pinch.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

He had gone home after he realized how late it was, and after making a mental note of the area where he had lost the stone. He stood outside that area again in the daytime once more and stared at what looked to him like the end of his family’s Orchard and an empty field with a few trees, but the very fact that he could no longer see the stone he had kicked into that so called “empty field” proved to him that it was in fact not empty at all. He slowly stepped closer to the field, going one foot in front of the other placing each foot very carefully.

There were after all, some very nasty things that could be woven into a family’s wards. Especially if those wards were covering an ancestral manor. He had seen one of his great-uncles walk into an ancestral ward and be disemboweled and then skinned, which had definitely haunted his nightmares.

He felt a slight shock after about ten steps, and he stopped. It was rather nice that they had a warning placed into their wards, rather than a straight up “You touch it just a little and you die a horrible, terrible death without any sort of warning what-so-ever” sort of ward, like some of his friends’ families had on their manors.

He stood still, and attempted to see if he could see past the wards and get any sort of glimpse of his mate’s home. He wondered if he would be able to guess who it was. He did know that within a few days he would start getting dreams of his mate. He couldn’t wait for that, if only because that meant he would slowly start to learn what his mate liked, and who he was.

After about an hour of standing with narrowed whisky eyes, he conjured a comfy chair. It was definitely out of place, and wasn’t exactly good looking, but he didn’t care because it was comfortable. He leaned an elbow on the arm rest, and stared at where he knew the wards were, trying to figure out some way to get past them, or see through them.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry stared into the most beautiful room he had ever seen. It had walls of a calming dark blue like the water of an ocean after a storm, and the furniture inside looked like some of the most comfortable he had ever seen. It was also very eclectic. He could see a dark purple couch and a dark, forest green couch. He could also see a coffee table made of a very light colored wood, and it looked like there was an actual live tree growing in the corner that he could see from the door.

This was definitely one of the strangest rooms he had ever seen that magic had created.

Harry loved it.

He stepped through the tree door, and as it closed slowly behind him, he turned around and could see that the tree was continued on this side of the door as well. He also could see a bird looking at him from the upper-most branches. His eyes went very wide at that.

When he looked to his left though, he was even more amazed. For right there in front of him was what appeared to be a forest. An actual forest was in his manor! It was amazing to him! He immediately started to walk through it. He could see all sorts of different trees, and to him it seemed as if they were all singular in their types.

As he walked through the forest, he could see that the trees were thinning out. It looked like they were now part of some sort of organized system. A few of the trees that he spotted had fruit on them, and he thought about eating some of it, but he wasn’t familiar enough with trees to know if they were safe to eat. Some of the fruit he could see was strange looking too.

Harry looked down, and could see a path made of stones that glowed in different colors. He stopped, stepped on a sky blue one, and when he removed his foot it was purple! He laughed in delight. He continued walking on, entranced by the path. Suddenly he ran into an invisible barrier. He shook his head confused, and looked up.

Through the clear, to him, barrier he could see an orchard and a very handsome young man sitting on what looked to be a hideously colored chair. The young man was tan, and his eyes looked like that drink that Remus was fond of, what was it…Whisky! That was what it was. He looked like he would be pretty tall, well taller than Harry was anyway. He had his chin resting on his fist, and his arm was placed on the arm of the outrageously ugly chair. He was staring intensely at the place where Harry was. Except how did he even know Harry was there?

Harry stepped closer and watched as the other male stood up suddenly and approached the barrier once more. Now that he was closer Harry could tell that he was a familiar face. He had definitely seen the other male at Hogwarts before, and Harry started imagining the different crests, and ties, of the Houses on him.

Not Gryffindor, he would have known him then because the other male was close to his age, and Harry knew his roommates and those who were above and below him in the next year.

Not Hufflepuff, the mental image wasn’t correct.

Not a Ravenclaw either, that didn’t seem right in his mind’s eye.

Slytherin though, that one looked right. In fact he thought he recognized him with the mental imagery of Slytherin robes over his relaxed clothing of pants tucked into what looked like dragon hide boots, and a tucked in white long sleeved poet shirt. He thought his name might start with a B? Bilbo, Billy, Bill, Bert, Blake, Blare, Blaise, Bran…… Blaise! That was it. What was his last name though? Something with a Z wasn’t it?

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise would swear on his father’s tree stump that there was someone on the other side of the wards. He would have sworn on his own tree, if he had one that is, that it was his mate. But how was he to get the other male to reveal himself? Could he send a note to the other male? Would that get through the wards if he wrote it and tossed it through?

Blaise wasn’t sure, but it was definitely worth a try to see if it would work.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry tilted his head in a curious manner as he watched Blaise Zini, no not Zini maybe Zuchini, wave his wand in the air. It looked to Harry like a summoning charm.

A few moments later he saw that it was. It was a summoning charm for what looked like paper and a…. was that a pen? Harry was a little stunned, because it was in fact a muggle ballpoint pen. But Blaise Zarabi was a Slytherin! He was supposed to detest pens! He was supposed to detest all things muggle!

Okay, that was the first five years of his life in the Wizarding World that was influenced by Dumbledore and Ron Weasley talking there. Harry knew from becoming friends with Draco this last year that such ideas about the Slytherins weren’t really all true. Some yes, but not all.

Harry was pulled out of his musings as Blaise Zereti, no it sounded better in his head with that “a” sound perhaps Zaraba, finished up whatever it was he was writing and chunked it at the barrier that the wards made around his home.

And it actually went through! Harry was just a little stunned. He hadn’t thought that anything could make it through the wards on the Potter Manor. Maybe it was just things, or people, that might harm the family that weren’t allowed through? He walked over to the paper that had been folded into some sort of bird of all things, and carefully poked it, and then picked it up. He didn’t want it to turn into a Portkey that would take him to any of the Death Eaters that were still on the loose after all.

Again, that was the influence of Dumbledore and Ron Weasley that Harry was thinking that every Slytherin he would ever meet would have some sort of relationship or tie to Voldemort and his sycophants.

Harry stared at the bird paper in his hand, unsure as to how to unfold it. He carefully took hold of its wings, and it actually unfolded on its own! Which of course made Harry drop it, sometimes magic still surprised him.

Harry leaned over the bit of paper, not yet willing to pick it up again, and realized that it was a letter of some sort. He slowly reached down, carefully poked it with a finger, and quickly pulled his hand back, leaning back away from the paper and closing his eyes as if he was expecting some sort of explosion. 

When nothing happened he slowly opened one eye and looked at the letter that was still just lying innocently on the ground in front of him. He opened the other eye and stared once more with an uncertain look upon his face. A million thoughts seemed to run through his head on what exactly he should do with the letter from this Blaise Zababine.

Should he pick it up and read it? Should he call for one of the House Elves to come check it? Did he know any spells he could cast that would tell him if it was dangerous or not? What if it was a delayed timer sort of thing? If he picked it up it might transport him once he started to read it! That wouldn’t be good at all.

Harry chewed on his thumb in agitation, and confusion.

He took a leap of faith, and picked up the piece of paper. When nothing happened, he let out a sigh of relief. He looked at it without reading it, noticing that it didn’t have any creases even though it had been folded in the shape of some sort of bird. He also noticed that it wasn’t parchment like they normally used at Hogwarts, but lined notebook paper. It looked like it had been torn from a muggle notebook actually! This was very surprising to Harry.

That was Dumbledore and Weasley again with their view of Slytherin’s all being muggle haters, and pure blood supremacists. He really needed to get into the habit of not thinking like that any longer. He was starting to sound like a CD stuck on repeat well he thought he was anyway. For all he knew, Blaise Zabiba was a muggle supporter, or at least a Slytherin who was indifferent to muggles.

He shook his head, and focused back in on the notebook paper he held in his hands. It was a letter. A very long letter written in tiny, neat handwriting, and that was very surprising to Harry since most of the boys in Gryffindor had terrible, horrific writing, and he had never seen any other boy’s handwriting.

It actually felt terrible to write so messy, and he didn’t exactly understand how the other Gryffindor boys were able to do it so comfortably, but he did it so he would fit in with his fellow Gryffindors. Perhaps he would be able to convince the Sorting Hat to give him a re-sort? That was definitely something worth pondering on, but perhaps at a later date?

Harry waved his hand and the nearby trees actually made a seat for him from their roots. Which stunned Harry, all he had meant to do was to summon a chair from the manor. Evidently getting nature to do his bidding was one of his abilities, although he hadn’t meant to do it.

Harry shook his head, and curled up in the seat the trees had made for him. He looked at the letter, and began to read.

_Dearest Mate,_

_I do not know who you are, but I know that you will be mine eventually. For you are the one in this world who completes me. I know a few things about you already._  
_I know that you are beautiful, even though I have never seen you._  
_I know that you are a wonderful person, even though I have never held a conversation with you._  
_I know that you are not perfect, but that you are perfect for me._  
_I know that I will love you with all of my being._  
_I will treat you as the treasure that you are, and you will never want for anything for the rest of your life. I will care for you for the rest of our long lives, and will love and adore any children that you give me as well._  
_I will not, though, share you with any outside of our mate-ship. I will not allow any to take you from me, not after waiting for your beautiful self for my entire life. I will kill for you, die for you, live for you, and love only you and our family for so long as I shall live and for so long as my tree digs its roots into the ground._

 _Yours for forever and beyond eternity,_  
_Blaise Zabini_

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise stood outside of the barrier now, with his chin resting on one of his fisted hands, the other holding his elbow. The only sign of the nerves that he was feeling internally that showed was his left foot slowly tapping out a rhythm on the ground of the orchard. He wasn’t sure that his beloved had even picked the letter up, or if they had just ignored it. It was rather unorthodox, but he couldn’t think of any way that was quicker to get the attention of his precious one.

Hopefully this would at least get his attention, and would show his loved one that there was already a mate for him nearby. Perhaps he would even be gifted with the first look of his precious mate. That would be a point of honor, a precious gift from his beloved. 

A glimpse though. He would settle for just the tiniest glimpse. Perhaps even just the knowledge of what his mate’s eye color or hair color was. That would help him to pick out appropriate gifts for his mate.

He was startled out of his musings by what looked like a… paper airplane? What in the name of Father Oak was this about?

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry chewed anxiously on his thumb. Maybe he shouldn’t have responded that way?

Maybe he should have just let his first mate to show up, this Blaise Zabini, wait a day or so for a response. Wasn’t there some ridiculous rule about waiting three days or something before responding to a date?

Wait. That may just be meant for after the first successful date that a person goes on or something like that.

Harry shook his head, frustrated with his own mind. This tangent wasn’t helping him in any form or fashion, so why did his brain insist on wandering off on it?

He just had to wait now.

Wait and see if Blaise responded in a favorable way, or in a not so favorable way.

Harry started to bite his lip.

He was never the most patient of people.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise carefully picked up the paper plane from where it had landed on a nearby tree branch. He slowly unfolded it, carefully pulling the paper straight.

The handwriting was messy, but not in an unreadable writing style. The words were clearly written, and just a little crooked, as if the writer had been writing upside down, or by leaning the paper against something. Perhaps his mate was just used to writing in a slightly messy way so that he could blend in with others? Merlin knows that almost every male outside of Slytherin wrote messy and with disgusting writing manners. Perhaps his mate had merely been attempting to blend into his house better?

Blaise looked down at the letter that he held in his hand.

 _Dear Blaise,_  
_I am not sure how to respond to your letter. I’ve never met you, and at school we are in different houses, so we haven’t truly ever interacted with each other._  
_All I have ever wanted was someone who would take care of me, so in truth, your letter sounds like the perfect sort of life for me._  
_I want it. I want it very much._  
_But I need you to understand that I don’t just have you for my mate. I have several. I do not truly know how many yet, since I just came into my inheritance, but my ancestress tells me that I probably have at least three, but that I am very powerful, so it may not be just three. She herself has three though._  
_I do not want to be taken advantage of though so I ask that we simply correspond through letters for a little while._  
_Perhaps we can meet here again tomorrow, and write to each other? I would like to get to know you, and for you to get to know me without knowing who I am. I do not wish rejection in any form or fashion._

_Hopefully,_  
_Your future mate_

Blaise was thrilled. Actually he was beyond thrilled. The minute he finished his letter, he did something completely inappropriate and absolutely un-Slytherin like.

He jumped in the air and let out an excited yell.

Of course immediately upon touching the ground again he looked around to make sure that no one had seen him.

Well, besides his mate of course. But if one could not act inappropriately around one’s mate, then who could one act in such a manner around?

Blaise quickly grabbed another sheet of paper, his pen, and began to frantically write back.

Hopefully his mate would still be on the other side of the wards.

Hopefully.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry laughed in delight when he saw Blaise jump into the air. He couldn’t hear the yell but he could see Blaise’s mouth open, and assumed that the other male had yelled.  
He was very happy that Blaise was so enthused about this. It also looked as if he had immediately started to write a response to Harry after he had looked around suspiciously.

Harry was very sure that Blaise had looked around to make sure no one else had seen him jump in the manner that he had. This of course only made Harry laugh more, which also had the pleasant side effect of making him glow and his eyes sparkle with warmth. Any of his mates, or anyone really, that saw this beautiful creature would have instantly become smitten with him.

Harry watched as Blaise finished writing his response, and began folding the paper. Harry couldn’t tell exactly what Blaise folded the paper into, but that was something he thought would be interesting to learn how to do himself.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a quiet roar. Blaise had enchanted the paper shaped like a dragon, as Harry could now tell, to fly and roar like a real dragon would. Harry laughed delightedly as he reached a hand out and the dragon gracefully landed upon it. Once it had landed it lost its animation, which made Harry slightly sad, and even as he sighed his face brightened. He could get Blaise to teach him how to fold the paper like he did, and also how he did the enchantments on it!

Harry nodded decisively at that thought, and then proceeded to carefully unfold and open the letter. It was shorter than the first paper had been, but Harry was okay with that.

_My Precious,_

_I am now one step closer! For now I know you attend Hogwarts, that you just received your inheritance so you are my age, and you are powerful. I will ponder this information extensively at a later time._  
_I will take care of you, have no doubt about that. And I have no problem sharing you with your other future mates. I simply refuse to share you with those outside of our family group. I include other mates, and all children that will come in the future._  
_I cannot see myself rejecting you in any form or fashion. So I will return here tomorrow say one hour after noon?_

_Eternally yours,_  
_Blaise_

Harry blushed and smiled shyly. Blaise was willing to get to know him without seeing him in person first! That was some of the best news he had heard since Evangelina first told him that he would never have to return to the Dursley’s house!

Harry hugged the letter to his chest, and grabbed a piece of paper, wrote something very simple on it, and folded it into an airplane once more before sending it through the barrier.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise watched excitedly, not that someone who didn’t know him would be able to tell that he was excited, as this second airplane came through the barrier much quicker than the last one had.

He grabbed it, and hurriedly opened it.

_Blaise,_  
_That sounds delightful._  
_Your mate to be_

It was definitely shorter than the last note, but it was more than enough to get him through the night. Blaise smiled widely, and bowed to the barrier where he knew his mate still was.

Now he needed to go and find an appropriate first gift.

Perhaps he should ask his mother what she received from his father. Surely she would have a decent idea on what to get his mate for this first courting present.

Blaise turned and walked back from the barrier towards his own family’s manor. He needed to go look through the heirloom jewelry and things to find something suitable.

“Blaise darling? This is my friend Lady Ameli Varie and her daughter Stephanie. Why don’t you join us for some tea dear?” Asked a feminine voice from Blaise’s left.

He looked up startled. There was his beautiful mother in a blue day dress, and two other females. One who looked close to his mother in age, if a little less care-free, and the other who looked just a little younger than him. Both were blonde haired and blue eyed, and their facial expressions made him think of the Malfoy family.

“Darling they’ve come all the way from...” Blaise cut her off.

“Mother there will be no more need for any of these so called “tea party meetings” of yours. I have found my mate, and he isn’t too far from here either.” Blaise’s eyes showed his feelings of excitement and delighted happiness at having finally found his mate. 

He bowed to the three ladies, and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, before slowly, but purposefully heading in the direction of the staircase that lead to the second floor of the manor which was where they kept several rooms to showcase their family heirlooms. His mother and the other two women stared after him astounded. He wandered for a little while among the trinkets and the priceless items, before stopping in front of something that he knew would show his mate how much the other male was already loved by him.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry grabbed the letters and after watching Blaise walk away, and nearly into a tree, he smiled as he turned and walked back through the forest. Slowly the trees became less well trimmed and spaced, and more jumbled together like a true forest. The deeper Harry walked back the way he came, the more beautiful everything became, until he was back at the “room” and looking at the “door” that he had first walked through.

He stared again at the calming blue walls, and walked over and sat on one of the comfy looking chairs he had evidently not actually noticed when he first walked into the room, which truthfully wasn’t that surprising as he had been more than a little bit distracted by the huge forest that was evidently part of his house.

Even as he stared though, the forest became a simple mural on the wall. It was life-like in its details, but when he stood up, walked over to the wall, and hesitatingly touched it, that was all it was. Just a wall. His hand did not pass through, and the wall was a steady presence.

Harry was awed. Perhaps this was what Evangelina had meant the other day by the mansion being sentient like Hogwarts was. He would have to ask her again just to make sure this was what she had meant.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

While Harry was outside all day getting to meet Blaise, the beings and paintings inside the manor, were panicking just a tad bit.

Evangelina paced in the confines of her painting’s frame. “I just don’t understand how it is that even the House Elves cannot find Harry! He can’t have truly left the manor land he hasn’t fully learned how to manipulate the magic of the family wards left! He certainly should have known better than to leave without informing someone in the household of where he was going! It is just preposterous and I don’t understand!”

“Darling,” said the tenor voice belonging to Matthias Ravenclaw. “Perhaps the manor is helping him. Like it helped you so long ago?”

Evangelina stopped in her pacing so quickly that she would have overbalanced and fallen forwards if Ramses had not been there to catch her.

A drawling voice spoke up. “That would mean that one of his mates has made it to the boundaries of the wards of the manor lands. They would have had to be extraordinarily fast in their traveling, or lived extraordinarily close.” Ares had a skeptical look on his face.

Ramses frowned. “There’s only one family that is even near this manor. The Zabibis, or Zabaras, or whatever their name is. They bought the land next to our home centuries ago. Right after we all mated if I remember correctly.”

Evangelina’s brown eyes narrowed as the other two males nodded to Ramses’ assumptions. She sighed and rested her head on her largest mate’s shoulder. “I am not sure that Harry is ready to face any of his mates. It has only been two weeks since he first came to the manor. He doesn’t yet know half of what he truly should, and he is still recovering from how those muggle beasts treated him.” Evangelina’s face had twisted in anger and outrage upon mentioning the Dursleys in any form or fashion. Her anger was echoed by the snarls on her mate’s handsome faces.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

The dark haired male ran his hand through his shaggy mane, and then proceeded to roll his head from side to side, and his shoulders up and down. He had travelled muggle style by taking a train across France, and then a boat to Britain, and now a train towards where he felt his mate, since he didn’t want to waste any of his magical energy apparating, or risk getting splinched, or flooing to the wrong place.

He stared out of the window, appearing to watch the scenery pass by, yet in reality he was thinking over what he knew of those from Britain. It was probably safe to assume that his mate had attended Hogwarts, and that since they had just come of age two weeks ago they were only just now sixteen. Meaning that he was four years older than his mate, which wasn’t really a large difference between mates. After all his Papa and Father had a twenty year age gap between them, and they were very happy together.

He knew who he hoped his mate would be. The enchanting Harry Potter. When he had first met him two years ago, something drew him towards the younger, smaller boy. His emerald eyes were so very expressive, and that first night had shown exactly how much fear he had held. Yet the boy had still gone through with the whole tournament. Amazing really. Then this past year he had taken down the Dark Lord Voldemort. Such courage the younger male had to face off with the greatest evil to be in their world in so long.

The man settled back attempting to get more comfortable in the train seat. He could feel the bond getting stronger the closer he came to his mate. He could only hope that the one he wished for as his mate, was the one that was destined for him.

He let out a sigh, and closed his eyes to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fingers crossed this chapter came out correctly! For some reason I couldn't preview it before I posted....


	6. Bookworms, Weasleys, and Quidditch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2/2 for today. I'm off to write some more on chapter 9, and maybe even have it ready to be posted by the 9th! No promises, but fingers crossed!

The burly young male jerked awake as the train came to a stop. A voice came from the nearby speakers, startling the brunette. “London, King’s Cross Station. Last stop for the night ladies and gents,” stated the slow, crackly voice of the train conductor. The young man stood and stretched, reaching with his arms up above his head. Ignoring the appreciative gazes from several of the nearby young men and women. He rubbed the palms of his hands on his eyes in an attempt to help himself wake up even more.

It was an unsuccessful attempt, but at least he tried. There was something to be said for trying wasn’t there? He hoped it would be easier to get to Diagon Alley than it had been to get to London. Perhaps there he would find news of his beloved. He grabbed his bag with its undetectable extension charm from the railings above his seat, and waited for most of the muggles to depart from the train before he stepped off onto platform eight at King’s Cross Station.

He looked in each direction trying to find some sort of sign or something to tell him which way he should go. Of course there was nothing. British wizards seemed so unwelcoming, even with them having been rid of the Dark Lord that had been terrorizing Britain’s muggle and magical population. They were so insular. It was very frustrating to him.

Something else that was courtesy of his mate but were any of them thankful? No. No they were not. Instead they sent him off to live with those disgusting muggles he had heard Harry speak of. Not to him of course, but to his friends. They hadn’t really had much of a chance to speak to each other when they had met. Not that he knew then that Harry Potter was his mate, but now that he did?

He would make sure that he was never hounded like he had been, and like he was being hounded ever again. Harry deserved to know that he was loved and protected. He deserved everything his mates could give him.

The young man thought as he walked, his feet taking him somewhere, anywhere as long as he wasn’t standing still among the irritating multitude of muggles. He came to a stop almost an hour later, at the entrance to what looked like a pub. The sign above it read “The Leaky Cauldron” and he could tell that there were muggle-repelling charms around it. Very strong repelling charms in fact.

He opened the door, and stepped into a loud yet quiet, crowded yet spacious bar. He carefully shut the door behind him, and headed to the bar where he could see a tall, older bartender cleaning a glass with a rag, and talking to a few of his patrons.

He leaned on the bar top, and waived at the bar tender to get his attention. “Excuse me sir. How do I get into the Alley?” His Bulgarian accent was barely noticeable, which was much better than it had been when he first came to Britain with the other students from Durmstrang.

“My goodness! You’re Viktor Krum! I caught your game against France on the wireless! Amazing work there chap!” said one of the other wizards at the bar next to him.  
Viktor gave a tight, forced grin and a small nod to the wizard, and turned back to the bar tender. “Sir?” Tom shook himself out of the stupor he had evidently been in, and motioned to the famous seeker.

“If you’ll just follow me, I’ll show you how to get in there. Through this entrance anyway.” Tom led Viktor through a side door, and out into the dirty side area used as storage. He tapped out the pattern to open the entrance, and then watched in awe as the famous seeker of the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team went through and disappeared among the Alley Patrons.

“Amazing.” Tom muttered under his breath as he turned to go back into his bar, “Always meeting the most interesting people in my bar.” He went back in and returned to his spot behind the bar, rag in hand, ready to help or clean.

Viktor had in turn walked into the Alley, and was trying not to look lost. He was also attempting to ignore the stares directed at him. He didn’t talk to anyone and just strolled through the Alley.

Well, he did until he heard a nearby conversation.

“Ronald! I cannot believe you! Why won’t you stand by him? Hasn’t he always been your friend since you two met for the first time on the train? Hasn’t he always forgiven you for everything, and especially for fourth year?” Came a loud voice that Viktor recognized instantly.

“Hermione, I don’t know why you keep harping on this. Every year we were put into dangerous situations because he wanted attention! He’s always had the attributes of a Dark Wizard, and now he’s disappeared from his family’s home so that he can practice Dark magic! He’s probably planning to take over where V-V-Voldemort left off!”

There was a smacking noise from Viktor’s right, and when he looked, there between two buildings were Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley. Weasley was holding the side of his face, and Hermione was looking utterly indignant and extremely angry.

“Your best friend is missing. This is the best friend who lost everything and everyone he loved to Voldemort, and all you have to say is that he’s probably going dark? No Ronald. He’s probably feeling lost and alone. Especially with the fact that neither of us have written him! If my parent’s hadn’t said that I wasn’t allowed anything magical this summer, I would have definitely written to him! I don’t even know what I was thinking when I thought that I liked you!” Hermione snorted inelegantly, and then after picking up a bag she had evidently placed on the ground, headed off into the Alley, leaving Ron where he was standing staring after her in an amazed and astonished manner that quickly morphed into disbelief and anger.

Viktor shook his head in disbelief. Harry had actually forgiven that boy after he had dropped him during the dangerous Tri-Wizard Tournament? Astonishing, and that just shows everyone how nice and kind Harry was. The wizarding population of Britain did not deserve his beloved not a single bit. Viktor started walking after Hermione, hoping to catch up to her. He followed her into what appeared to be a book store. He searched through the crowded first floor, only to see her bushy head of hair on the stairs to the next floor. He made his way through the throng of people to the stairs. As he reached the landing for the second floor there was a wand placed at his throat.

“Why are you following me?” said Hermione’s voice from his right side.

“Her-my-ownee.” Viktor carefully said as he turned and faced the aggravated witch, who while younger than he was, probably knew more spells than he did after all, he had left school and mostly ignored a lot of the hype, while she was still in school and best friends with Harry Potter, and also a muggle-born. She probably had studied up on a lot more spells than she had to so that she could protect herself from anyone who was looking to harm her.

Hermione sighed in relief and dropped her wand from Viktor’s throat, placing it safely back into the arm holster she had recently purchased. “Viktor I’m sorry. I’m still a little jumpy since there are still some Death Eaters on the loose. Whatever are you doing in Britain? And in London specifically?” She gave Viktor an inquisitive look. After all, she was one of the few who knew that Viktor had not only a creature inheritance, but that he also preferred his own gender. He had taken her to the Ball for the Tri-Wizard Tournament because he felt that she was less influenced by the fame he had already, and he couldn’t very well ask the boy that he had really wanted to take with him, since said boy was also a champion and had found a date as well.

Viktor had a sheepish look on his face. “My mate, he has come into his inheritance finally. I can tell that he is somewhere in Britain, but not anything more than that. I can feel that I am close, but I am not sure how close. I do not think he will be among the muggle population, or even among the wizard population. He will have retreated to a safe place, and he will be waiting for all of his mates to come to him.”

Hermione’s eyes widened. “When did you first feel the connection?” She asked curiously.

“About a month or so ago, on the thirty-first of July.” Viktor told her, and watched as the younger witch paled, and began to mutter frantically under her breathe as she searched in her shoulder bag for something. He watched as she made an ‘ah-ha’ noise and pulled out some parchment and a muggle pen.

She then proceeded to quickly write something down on the paper, and then fold it up. She made a ‘follow me’ motion, and headed quickly back down the stairs and towards what looked like the gaudiest store on the street. It had a large mannequin in the front window, which periodically lifted the top hat off of its orange head of hair to reveal various things. First there was a rabbit, then a rat, then a frog.

It was one of the strangest things Viktor had ever seen. It became even stranger when they walked inside the store itself. Viktor was immediately accosted with noise. Laughter from the kids in the shop, grumbles from some of the adults, lots of “hey come see this!”, “look at these!”, and “mum can I have one please?” from all over the store.

Viktor stood in the middle of an aisle, and stared at everything around him. He could see something that said “Skiving Snackboxes, guaranteed to get you out of class!” and something else that said “Weather in a Bottle”. It was all amazing, and confusing, and Viktor had no clue as to why Hermione had lead them to this store.

Speaking of Hermione that was her bushy haired self, up there on the second landing talking to two red-heads that looked exactly alike wasn’t it? Viktor carefully made his way around all of the people in the store and over to the stairs. He was met at the bottom by the two identical males.

They crossed their arms over their chests and stared at Viktor. “What do you think Gred?” Said the one standing on the left.

“Not sure Forge, but if Hermione says he’s one of them, then I’ll bite.” The one on the right said. Both of them squinted their eyes at the same time looking at Viktor as if they could see into his very soul. Viktor refrained from squirming as he wanted to and instead remained standing tall with an impassive look on his face.

Hermione let out a sigh from behind the twins. “Knock it off you two! We need to help Viktor. That way he knows that we are still here for him as well. Stupid Ron.” The last two words were muttered under her breath and clearly not meant to be heard by anyone else.

The twins immediately returned to her and wrapped their lightly muscled arms around the slightly irritated female. “It’s all right Mione. Now that you’ve come into your own inheritance you understand, so everything will be fine.” The two were lightly patting the female in between them, stroking her hair in a comforting, and not simply familial way.

Viktor was filing this all away in his head. Every little bit would help him with his mate after all. It appeared to him as if Hermione had come into an inheritance, and the two red-headed devils were her mates. Not that any of the three had apparently realized this yet. They seemed to be opposites. From what he remembered of Hermione she was serious, studious, and not likely to spend much time joking around. The twin red headed devils though, were much more likely to play a joke or prank on an unsuspecting person than to study in a book.

As Viktor looked around the shop though, since the trio appeared to be having some sort of conversation between themselves, he noticed that these weren’t the regular run-of-the-mill jokes and prank products. Some of these things he had never seen before, much less heard of. Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, what was this strange sounding item? Skiving Snackboxes? U-No-Poo? What were these strange items?

“Like our”

“Products do”

“You? Special”

“Price for our”

“Favorite silent”

“Backer’s mates”

“Of course. So”

“Pick something”

“You like”

“And take it with you”

The confusing verbal tennis match that happened between the two red-headed devils confused Viktor quite a bit. He had no idea who had said what, or even what they were really talking about. He gave Hermione a confused look, and she sighed. She walked up behind the twins and smacked them on the back of their respective heads.

“Stop that! Save it for people you actually don’t like.” She gave the two red heads a disapproving look.

“But Loooove” Whined one of the twins.

“Don’t you “but love” me!” She said putting one hand on her hip, and using the other to point at them. “You two need to be nice. Especially since eventually all of our children will play together, so be nice, and don’t confuse Viktor!”

Well, there went Viktor’s idea that they all weren’t aware of their mate status. Viktor watched as both twins twitched at the same time and then went to wrap themselves around the female of their trio.

“So then you have decided to accept us darling?” The two men said at the same time, in a seductive voice, causing a visible shiver to go through the brunette who was held between the two of them.

“I thought we had already had this discussion last week after we met after my inheritance had settled.” Hermione said slowly and carefully.

“No dearest. You said that you were thinking on it in a good light. Not that you were actually accepting us,” said the red-headed menace on the left.

“Yes. After you had left us panting and following you around like little puppies, we couldn’t think straight for hours.” The right one stated in a low voice.

Hermione shivered visibly again, and slipped out from between the two. “Yes. Well. This is me saying yes. Now we need to help Viktor find Harry. We can finish up our mate status later today.”

Both twins gave a devilish smile towards their brunette, and turned as one to look at the Bulgarian who had stood silently watching their interaction and pondering how his own mates would be. After all with Harry being a Freasian Mantal he would definitely be sharing him with others. The real question in his mind of course, was how many others. Viktor looked back up at the twins when they came forward and each placed an arm over his shoulders.

“Come with us future brother-in-law. We’ll get you fixed up.”

As Viktor was propelled forward by the combined strength of two of the most notorious pranksters of their time, he started to wonder if this was still the great idea it had been when he had first seen Hermione.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise lay in his bed staring up at the canopy of his bed wondering if it was time yet to go to meet his mate. He cast a quick tempus only to see that it was barely after six. He groaned and rolled over to place his face in his pillow. One o’clock could not come soon enough.

“Blaise darling” came a female voice from the direction of his door. Blaise groaned knowing it was his mother, wanting answers for yesterday. Answers that he had no desire at all to give her, at least, not when he had so few of them himself, that would surely no reassure his mother in any form that there was no reason to stop the “my friend who I haven’t talked to in years just stopped by for some tea with her wonderfully single daughter(s)” thing she was doing.

Which was definitely not a good thing, but then again he had no proof outside of the fact that he had the letters he exchanged with his mate. “Blaise. What you did yesterday in front of Lady Varie was very rude! They had come all the way from Italy, and they were very much looking forward to meeting you.”

Blaise groaned, and sat up in his bed turning to face his mother. “Mother like I said yesterday when I came in. I have met my mate.” He frowned. “Well, ok. I haven’t actually met him face to face, but I have found him at any rate. He’s protected behind barriers of a nearby family manor, so I haven’t actually seen him, but I know it’s him.” He sighed and fell backwards onto his bed once more.

His mother raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at how her son was acting. It was very much out of character for him. Her son was more often aloof and gave off the idea that he didn’t care for any of the people around him in any form or fashion. So this reaction he was having to finding his mate, well sort of finding his mate anyway, was very intriguing to his mother. She hadn’t expected him to be quite this happy and emotional about finding his mate. Perhaps now he would be willing to pick a tree to bond with?

She walked over to where his bed was, and sat down elegantly beside him. She reached over and ran a hand through his hair, which he had allowed to grow longer this summer than he ever had before. “Blaise, do you know anything about her?”

Blaise snorted. “Well I know it isn’t a ‘her’ mother. It’s a ‘him’.” He felt his mother’s fingers stop moving through his hair, and had a brief moment of panic at the thought that she wouldn’t be able to be happy with him having a consort instead of a ‘Lady’ of the manor.

“Well.” His mother stated after restarting her finger movements. “As long as you treat each other well, I don’t see the problem with it. Male submissives can still bear children after all. I would still like to be able to meet he-him.”

Blaise sighed. He knew that his mother wouldn’t settle for anything less. “Mother, I would like to meet him first before you do, and I’m not quite sure when that will happen. Although we have arranged a meeting for today at one, and I’m not quite sure what will happen there.” He turned his face toward his mother to see her smiling gently at him.

“I’m sure it will be fine no matter what happens. You two are mates. It will all come together with time darling. Although I want to meet him soon after you two finally meet face to face.” She said the last bit with an expectant look on her face, and Blaise groaned out load.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Harry woke up and stretched gracefully. His back arched, arms stretched above his head, and a content look upon his face. If any of his mates had been there, they surely would have found the sight to be an appetizing one. He lay back against the pillows of his bed, relaxed as anyone could be in what they knew to be their own private sanctuary. He heard the quiet pop of a House Elf appearing in his room, and sat up in his bed to see which one it was.

It was Mizy. She was staring up at Harry from the bedside with large dark eyes. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was battling internally with what her nature and personality were telling her, and what her life as a House Elf had taught her.

Harry leaned over the side of the bed to look closer at Mizy. He stared quizzically. “Mizy are you okay?”

With that question, it seemed as if a dam broke inside the small female House Elf. She jumped up on the bed and pointed a finger at Harry. Her face screamed frustration. “Master Harry disappeared! He disappeared and didn’t tell anyones! Cause all House Elfs to stop work and search, but no ones can find yous Master Harry! It not a good thing! No work get done, and everyone worried! We even asked Mistress Evangelina and her mateys and they no know either! But they search the portraits and then ask portraits to search too, and no one finds yous! Cause all sorts of problems and worries and then yous Master Harry pops up way lates and doesn’t even says anything to anyones, but Mizy come in and find yous here this morning!” The entire time Mizy was speaking her finger was shaking at Harry, but slowly the stern look she started with morphed into a tearful countenance. “We was so worried about yous Master Harry! Anything could have happened to yous, and no ones would have even known!” Mizy covered her face with her hands and started to sob.

Harry looked baffled at the small House Elf. He hadn’t even realized that he had been gone for so long yesterday after he had come upon Blaise. The natural high from finding what he thought to be his first mate had made him pretty much insensible. He had been on cloud nine really.

Harry scooched close to the crying House Elf and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry Mizy. I didn’t even realize I had been gone so long, and I didn’t know that you guys wouldn’t be able to find me. I’m pretty sure I found my first Mate though.”

That statement caused Mizy to gasp. “But Hows? No one founds yous on the grounds! We House Elfs looked everywheres for yous!”

Harry shrugged and leaned back. “I found a strange door Mizy. It seemed to be part of a live tree inside the manor. I was just wandering yesterday, and suddenly I ran smack into it. It was huge! I opened it, and it was like I walked into a sitting room that had a live forest built into it! It was amazing! I always find the things that Magic is capable of to be astounding Mizy. I feel like I am always discovering something new.”

Mizy smiled tearfully at Harry. “Alright Master Harry, that explains much to us House Elfs. Your mateys was already finding yous were heres, but yous needed help to finds him. So the manor be helping yous.” Mizy gave an affirmative nod when she said that, and then with a much more cheerful look on her face, she snapped her fingers and disappeared from Harry’s bed.

In her place was a breakfast tray full of light foods that Harry could stomach. He had discovered that even after being away from the Dursleys for a few months he still was having issues eating heavy foods. Which he was okay with anyway, he rather liked toast, apple sauce and juice for breakfast. Along with a random piece of fruit, and today it appeared to be mango. Which was rather strange, but honestly Harry was okay with it.

After breakfast, which only took about thirty minutes for Harry to finish, he cast a tempus. The glowing, floating letters showed 10:30 a.m. He groaned and fell back onto his bed when he saw the time. Time was going to go slowly because he was looking forward to meeting Blaise again. In his mind it was going to take an eternity to be one in the afternoon.

Harry stared up at the roof of his four poster bed. Perhaps he should go and speak to Evangelina since she was probably still a little worried after his disappearing act from yesterday. He perked up a little. Perhaps he would even be able to catch her alone so he could ask her the embarrassing questions that he had!

Harry quickly scooched over to the edge of the bed, and slipped his feet into the slippers that were by the side of it. He quickly went into his wardrobe, which had been thoughtfully provided by the House Elfs at the request of Evangelina and Ares who had told the small beings what to buy for Harry. They had also told the House Elfs to burn all of his old clothes. That had been interesting to say the least. They had taken all of his clothes including what he had been wearing at the time, which had been a little awkward since he had been in front of Evangelina’s portrait at the time, and everyone had been in it. He had to hand it to the House Elfs of his family manor. They were very quick, and had him in a robe in no time at all.

Harry changed from slippers to some sneakers and was out the door, and headed to the room that had Evangelina’s portrait in it. He saw instantly that he was lucky. Evangelina was the only one in the portrait!

“Evangelina!” Harry said excitedly.

Said female looked up, and smiled seeing her great-great-great-who-knows-how-many grandson in front of her. “Hello Harry darling. I am very happy to see you! We were all very worried about you yesterday when no one could find you.”

Harry looked ashamed and embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worry like that. I didn’t even realize I had been gone for so long!”

Evangelina just smiled at Harry. “And what distracted you so very much darling that you forgot to check in with everyone, or that you didn’t even notice the time passing?”

Harry blushed. “I… I think… I thinkthatImetoneofmymatesyesterdayandIdon’treallyknowwhattodonow.”

Evangelina blinked, and tilted her head trying to figure out what exactly Harry had said so quickly. “You think you met one of your mates yesterday and what dear?”

Harry sighed. “I don’t know what to do now Evangelina. How do I know that he will really love me for me? I don’t want a mate who will only want me for my fame and money.”

Evangelina shook her head. “Harry dearest, I thought we had already taken care of that insecurity darling. Your mates will love you. Unconditionally, because you are what makes them whole, no matter what they will not be able to do anything except love you. You are their soul mate darling.”

Harry sniffled. “But what if before they even met me we were enemies? What if they were from a different house or a different side of the war?”

Evangelina smiled. “Harry, even if they were from a different house at Hogwarts would that really bother you?” Harry shook his head. “Well then there you are on that question. If they were on a different side of the war, would that make a difference? Perhaps they were only on Voldemort’s side because they were of Dark magic. Not everyone has a Light core dear. In fact many Potters in the previous generations were Dark. Just as many have been Light. Very few have been Grey, which is what it takes to be a Freasian Mantal like we are.”

Harry stared wide-eyed at Evangelina. His clueless look made the woman laugh. They spent the next half hour going over the differences between magical cores, and how most who had fought under Voldemort were probably just seeking more rights for their magic types. After a while of more discussion on other subjects, Harry had most of his questions answered, and had also told Evangelina all about Blaise. She told him to trust his instincts.

Harry couldn’t remember talking to someone who was older than him that gave such good advice constantly. Sure there were some adults who gave him good advice and listened to him a little bit, but Evangelina was consistent. Anytime Harry came to her, she would listen, think carefully, and give him sound advice on his issues.

Harry cast a tempus spell once more, saw that it showed 12:30 in large, glowing letters, and said goodbye to Evangelina. He promised to come back and tell her how it went if he came back before he fell asleep.

He headed off towards the hallway that had the tree door. Harry found it once more, and even though he had already been in the room it still amazed him. He wandered through the forest until the trees became organized like they had the day before. He found Blaise sitting in the same chair that he had transfigured, and Harry sat in the seat provided by the trees around him. He was content to watch his mate pace until Blaise finally listened to his instincts and realized that he was there on the other side of the wards.

~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~

Blaise was panicking just a little bit. Okay, maybe he was panicking quite a bit. He had figured out what his first gift would be, but he wasn’t entirely sure that it was an appropriate first gift. Perhaps jewelry would be better? No. No he had figured out that his mate was not only a boy, but from Gryffindor, so he might not actually like jewelry.

It took Blaise ten minutes more of his muttering and pacing to recognize that his instincts were trying to tell him that his mate was nearby. He stopped his pacing and stared at the barrier where his instincts were telling him his mate was standing. He smiled and walked over to stand as close to the wards as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I amused myself with the pairing in this chapter. I do so love Twins/Hermione.


	7. Searching, Embarrassment, and the Bayou

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummmm. Here's chapter seven, not even posted when I wanted to, but Life people. Life.
> 
> Also here in the USA it is GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON!!!!  
> Excuse me as I go eat Caramel Delights, because yum.

Harry and Blaise had sent notes back and forth for hours. Until Harry was fetched by a House Elf, Dippsy, and told that dinner was ready. Harry was, to say the least, very unhappy when he told Blaise that he had to go, but they had been talking for hours now.

Blaise was elated to have learned so much more about his mate. He was so ecstatic that upon arriving home, he danced with his mother to the random tune he was loudly humming. It startled and amazed her so much that Blaise let his own elation show that she laughed and was unable to even attempt to scold him for staying out so late. Blaise ended their dance with a spin and a courtly bow, and then proceeded to hum all the way to his room.

Blaise falls face first onto his bed only thinking of everything that he learned, and the next meeting the two of them had set up, for the next afternoon.

 

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

 

Viktor was feeling supremely frustrated. The twin menaces were absolutely no help. They only seemed to serve as a distraction to all who were around, but beyond that couldn’t do anything. It was driving him to angry heights he had never before reached. He reached up and pressed on his temples as if to alleviate the headache that the two mischievous menaces were causing him to have.

After they had finished talking yesterday, Viktor had gone and gotten himself a room at the Leaky Cauldron. He had slept relatively well, with shadowy dreams about Harry floating through his mind. It had been a good night, but when he came back to the shop it seemed that people had realized that Viktor Krum was in England, and had been seen at the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. It was madness.

Hermione came up the stairs to the area Viktor was in. “Alright. So I think that I’ve narrowed it down to a few places that he could be. The only problem being that these places are protected by a lot of wards, and I can’t find one at all with the locator spell, so I’m sure that it’s under the Fidelius charm. Which makes it a little more complicated to find of course.”

Viktor had looked up when Hermione had first started her rambling about finding Harry. He didn’t quite catch everything she was saying, but he understood one thing. They were closer to finding his mate than they had been yesterday, which worked for him. He surged up and gave Hermione a huge bear hug.

“Hey now there! That’s our mate friend.” Said one of the twins popping up out of nowhere and tugging the shocked Hermione from Viktor’s grasp.

“Yeah mate.” said the other who popped up on the other side of Hermione, and started to pet her hair possessively. “So how bout you”

“just keep your overly large”

“mitts off our mate, and we’ll”

“Continue to help you find yours”

“Understand?” They said together.

Viktor laughed and nodded. “Sorry. I was simply overjoyed with the news Hermyownee told me. I will try not to do it again my friends.”

The twins both gave him suspicious looks, but nodded their heads in agreement of his statement. “See that you do Vikky. See that you do.” Was all that one of them said.

Viktor laughed heartily, any and all pain from the headache he had previously been dealing with, magically gone thanks to the news. “So what do we do now Hermyownee? How do we go about finding my mate?”

Hermione removed herself from the twins’ possessive embrace with a few smacks and pushes, and then straightened her robes, and her hair with a glare towards the two red heads. “Now Viktor, all we have to do is narrow it down out of the places that are left, and figure out which one it is.”

The twins looked at each other, the list that they had taken off of Hermione, and then at the third member of their triad. “That’s all? Hermione you do realize that most of the homes you’ve got listed here aren’t actually in England right? This one right here, this Lion’s den. It’s in America! We can’t exactly request an international portkey without a Visa Hermione!”

Hermione gave him an incredulous look. “I am aware of that George. I was planning on simply making a list of more possible places first. I don’t think that Harry would actually go so far away from all of us. I think he would have gone to his roots first to find out more about his family.”

Fred flipped the pages to see how many there were. “Hermione!” He shouted squeakily. “There are six pages here! With at least,” Fred did a quick count on one of the pages. “Ten properties on each page!”

George looked at another page. “There’s fifteen on this one Gred.” Fred stared at the page, and then looked up quickly at Hermione with wide eyes.

Hermione simply crossed her arms under her chest and raised her eyebrows at the two of them. “It’s almost as if you two doubt me, and my abilities.”

The twins looked at each other fearfully. “Of course not sweetums. We just think that this could take a long time is all. We don’t doubt you not a bit.” Said George looking at her and nodding enthusiastically but fearfully.

Hermione gave a sniff, and then turned to look at Viktor whose face was full of humor. When Hermione gave him a questioning look, he simply shrugged and smiled.

“I have time to look for him. Otherwise I would not have attempted to find him at all.” With that statement the other three smiled at him, and they get to work narrowing down the list of possible locations once more.

 

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

 

After finishing dinner, Harry was sitting in the library reading up on more of his family’s history. Evidently one of his too many greats to remember grand uncles had an affair when his wife was a full blooded Veela. That had resulted in the man he was having the affair with vanishing. No one had ever found him. Another who was a cousin had been part of a hunting party for a Nundu, and ended up being partially mauled. The cousin had lost his leg and a hand to the creature. They still ended up killing it, and evidently the fur of the beast was somewhere in the Potter vault.

Harry sighed and stood up from the desk leaving the book open where he had stopped reading. He wandered over to one of the shelves in his family's huge library. He walked down the aisle, one hand dragging along the many spines of the books on the shelves. He wasn’t really looking for anything, but aimlessly wandering around the library instead. Every book that any Potter or a relation to them had ever owned was in this library.

There were books on the wizarding and Goblin wars, books on harmless creatures, harmful creatures, and of course those creatures that had gone extinct. There were books on decorating, books on babies…. Harry stopped and walked backwards to look through those.

There was _Babies Change Your Life by Babas_ which Harry picked up, saw a very strange picture on the cover that sort of really freaked him out and so he put it back. Then he saw _Men Having Babies by Haurtxo Viles_ which Harry actually opened to a random page and read a passage.

_Male pregnancy is perhaps one of the most difficult things to occur among the wizarding population, and absolutely unachievable among muggles. With the invention of the Male Pregnancy potion by Elizar T. Prince in 1879, regular wizarding men were able to have children. It is still rather difficult as the male body is not naturally able to have, and bear children. The potion though helps to create a…._

And Harry shut the book rather quickly because that next bit was a rather well detailed picture, and he really didn’t want to have seen even the glimpse he got of it. He put it back on the shelf, and he could feel the blood rushing to his face. Perhaps he should leave the baby portion alone until he actually had all of his mates? Evangelina had told him that he couldn’t have any children until his circle was complete anyway, so he really didn’t have to worry about that topic until then really.

Harry continued on down the row of books, and then turned left onto another aisle that had **‘S’** on the front, not that he really noticed it, but he did notice some of the titles. _Sex and How it makes one feel by Cinsi Tarpea._ Harry’s eyes were very wide at some of the other titles he could see. _The Mechanics of Sexual Contact_ was the large title on one with smaller print underneath saying _Not Only Sex Itself But Also Oral and Simple Touching by Geslacht Gerbrugi_ . Harry didn’t even want to think about that at all, but the next title that he saw made him so curious that he had to reach out and pick up the book. It was titled _Sex Between Men by Kasarian Kluter._ He flipped to a random page, and saw such a shocking picture that he dropped the book with a squeak and covered his eyes, blushing such a dark red that his face matched the Gryffindor red of the shirt he had on!

“Master Harry are yous okay?” Came a quiet, feminine voice. Harry opened his fingers slightly, trying not to look down near his feet where the book had fallen open to a different page.

“Y..yes.” Came his voice a little on the squeaky, and definitely a bit higher in pitch than he normally sounded. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes Tiply. I’m fine. Thank you.” Tiply nodded solemnly and then walked back to the bookshelves that she had been dusting.

Harry covered his face once more to hide his blush, and took a deep breath. ‘Where’s that Gryffindor courage now?’ He thought to himself. ‘It’s just a book! What harm came from reading a book?’ He took a deep breath again, and bent down to pick up the book. It was so innocent looking on the cover! How did the author even get away with that? Shouldn’t this be like that baby book he had seen previously and have some sort of warning/provocative picture on the cover? Or something like that anyway!

Harry nibbled on his bottom lip, and slowly opened the book to a random page. Upon seeing what it was of though, he shut the book so hard it made a _thump_ noise. His eyes were wide as saucers as he hugged the book to his chest. “How is that even possible?!?!?! There’s no way that actually fits!” Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t believe that I’ll be reading this.” He went to place it back on the shelf, but hesitated and brought it back to his chest. “At least…. Not in the library.”

He wandered around for a bit longer, but besides that one book he didn’t pick anything else up. 

 

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

 

Hermione slammed the book that she was looking at closed. “This one is absolutely useless! Not one bit of helpful information in it at all!” She pushed it away forcefully, and looked across the table at Viktor. “Having any luck with that one?” She asked hopefully. 

“No Hermyownee. This one is not helpful either.” He said with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair that was already mussed from previous runs. “None of these speak of any way to break the Fidelius.” He reached his arms over his head in a stretch that popped some things, and made Hermione wince. “They all say the same thing.” 

“That without being told by the Secret Keeper, a Fidelius charmed home or residence is unfindable. Yes, I’ve gathered that.” Hermione stated with a weary sigh. They had narrowed down the choices to just a few, barely enough to fill a page. The only problem was that several of them were untraceable and unless you had been to them, then you had absolutely no chance of finding the houses. 

The two of them had been researching for several hours in the flat located on the invisible third floor of the Twins’ store. The two red heads had happily returned to their store to tend to it. It had really only just gotten off the ground and as such they were the key inventors, managers, stockers, clerks, and cleaners of the store. They couldn’t yet afford to hire people. They did hope to be able to soon though. 

The two came clomping up the stairs and into the room with yawns all around. “Longest day ever.” Said one of them as he fell face first onto the couch. The other simply nodded tiredly and leaned over to place his face on Hermione’s shoulder.

Viktor looked at his pocket watch. It was indeed quite late. “Hermyownee.” He called. The bushy haired witch looked up at him with a questioning look on her face. “I will come back in the morning and we can continue this. We are all tired though, and it is time for sleep.” The young woman nodded back at him.

“You are absolutely correct Viktor. It is quite late. George please stand up darling. I’ll show Viktor out and lock up.” The redhead who was leaning on her made an affirmative sounding noise and then slowly stood up straight. He wobbled a bit, and then sat in the chair by the fireplace, appearing to fall asleep right then and there. Hermione shook her head fondly, and motioned to Viktor to follow her down the hall.

Hermione led him to stairs that descended down the outside of the shop from their apartment. “This is how I normally get in and out, and it is charmed to be invisible unless one knows about it. Most don’t of course. You are more than welcome to use this to come in and out from now on.” 

Viktor nodded, and turned to Hermione taking her hand in his and squeezing it. “Thank you Hermyownee for helping me to find him. I do not know if I would have been even remotely as successful without your help.” 

Hermione blushed and smiled up at Viktor. “I’m sure you would have found him eventually on your own Viktor.”

“Yes, but it would have taken much longer for me to find him on my own Hermyownee, so thank you.” With that having been said Viktor set off down the stairs and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. 

Upon arriving he found an Eagle owl sitting on his bedpost. “Do you have a letter for me Valkyrie?” Viktor said to the regal bird. She nodded in response and swooped down to his shoulder, and held out a leg. “Thank you. Your stand and dishes are in the corner. Rest and I will see if I have a response to send back with you to Father and Papa.” 

Viktor let loose a sigh, and sat down on the bed and slowly opened the letter. 

 _Son,_  

So this one was from his Father, which was much more expected than the last letter he had received which had come from his Papa. 

 _Your Papa has told me that you are in England searching for your mate, and that by the time this reaches you, that you will be close, but soon be stumped in your search._  

So his Father was writing because his Papa told him to. Viktor shook his head fondly. His Papa certainly did not like to write, but in his opinion it was irritating and unreliable to Floo with sensitive information. Still, his Papa evidently had Seen something if he was forcing Father to write to him. 

 _He says to think outside of the box, and look for help outside of the redhead and the bookworm. He says otherwise it will take much more time to find your mate if you do not, and that the sooner you find him, the safer you all will be._  

Think outside and seek help from others? Who could they ask for help that didn’t want to simply use his Harry for their own issues? His Papa Saw things, but had to be so confusing about what he told others. 

That last bit though was a bit troubling. What was coming for them all? Or was something simply coming for Harry? That was not a pleasant thought, and Viktor quickly returned his eyes to the letter. 

 _This is of course confusing since your Papa refuses to share everything he sees, because as he says he doesn’t want to tamper with what could be, and make something worse happen._  

Viktor snorted. That was definitely his Papa’s point of view on anything and everything that he Saw in his visions. 

 _This of course makes life difficult. Your Papa also says that you have more friends in England than you think, and to look for those you met when you were last there. I suppose he means when you participated in that awful tournament two years ago, or however long it has been._  

Viktor nodded his head. This part he understood. Fleur had written in her last letter that she was in England working in Gringotts. 

 _Don’t forget that your oldest brother Mikail is in England as well. I believe that Emil is currently somewhere in the United States. Not that he ever writes or floos any of us with updates._  

Viktor laughed. Of course Emil didn’t. He hated writing letters with more vehemence than their Papa did. Flooing in Emil’s opinion was even worse. Every time Emil tried to Floo he ended up in the wrong place, or he ended up getting the wrong person. Emil abhorred Flooing, and would rather wait the months on the international portkey list, and deal with the mountains of paperwork involved than even try to Floo. 

 _Your brother’s are willing to help you, as are your Papa and I. Remember that it is not a weakness to seek help._  

_Much Love,_

_Father_  

Viktor lowered the letter to his lap. It had given him quite a bit to think about, and several good reminders as well. Viktor sighed and raised one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. There was so much to contemplate, and not even enough time to think through half of it properly. 

Viktor walked over to the open window, and stuck his head out. There were very few people still out and about in Diagon Alley at this time of the night. Even though it was early still, it seemed that people were worried about the Death Eaters who hadn’t been caught. Which did include quite a few of Voldemort’s Inner Circle members, so perhaps they did have a reason to worry. If they hadn’t decided to just leave all of the defending to certain people, namely his mate, then perhaps they wouldn’t have quite such a good reason to be worried. 

Viktor covered his eyes with one hand, and retreated back into the room. He shut the window, until only a crack was left to allow in fresh air. Not that the air of London was fresh, but some was better than none as his Papa would say. 

He sat at the rickety desk, in the chair that he had been forced to transfigure because there had not actually been a chair in the room, and pulled out a sheet of parchment, a quill, and some ink, in order to respond to his Father. 

 _Father,_  

_I am not sure what exactly Papa has seen, but I will take your advice to heart, and look beyond those who are helping me now. I am slightly worried that anyone we ask to help will only be seeking to use us to further their own search for my mate, but I am sure that we can handle that._

_Why exactly is Mikail in England? Last time he wrote to me he was in Scandinavia searching for some scroll or something that was supposedly written by some Viking that he was researching. Do you know where he is staying while he is in England? It would be good to see him, and tell Papa that if Emil needs us he will reach us. He hates writing and Flooing more than Papa does, which is really something else._

_Thank you for the reminder that I am not alone, and that you and Papa are willing to help me all you can. Do you know how to get through the Fidelius Charm? Other than being told the secret by the Secret Keeper, is there any other way to get through?_  

_Much Love,_

_Viktor_  

Viktor set his quill down to the side, and blew on the parchment in the hope of drying it quicker. He quickly folded it up, and searched for an envelope for longer than the few minutes it had taken to even write the short letter to his fathers. He finally found one under the bed of all places, and after addressing it to his father he set it on the nightstand as a reminder to send it off first thing when he awoke in the morning. 

That being done he laid down and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out.

  
~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

 

The dark skinned male carefully went through the small house, that was in truth more of a shack, to make sure that he had packed everything. He had come here to the US to help take care of Great-Grandmama Odie in her old age, and since she had passed three months ago, all he had been waiting for was for summer to end before he went back to Hogwarts. 

Instead he had felt the Call of his mate, which made him so happy. He knew who it was too. He had after all shared a dorm with the other male for five years now, and did know him quite well. He had quite a few sketches of the raven haired boy too. He ran a hand through his short curly brown hair, and his brow furrowed. He was missing something. He had his paintings, sketchbooks, paints, clothes, owl, all of the knick-knacks that had been Grandmama Odie’s that he had wanted. What was he missing? 

He looked around the five room shack, and saw the bookshelf in the corner. His schoolbooks! That’s what he was missing. He quickly packed those away in his trunk and then loaded everything onto the swamp boat. Being so deep in the Bayou meant that he definitely knew how to work a boat, and he got her up and running quickly once he had everything loaded up. 

He had let the other people of the Bayou know that the place was up for grabs and that he more than likely wouldn’t be coming back here ever. He had even let the few who were creatures know that his Mate had Called him, and that he was headed back to England since that’s where he knew the Call had come from. They had all wished him luck in his wooing, and a few had told him to write when he was back in England. 

He sighed and navigated the dark Bayou streams and rivers. He had to make it to Baton Rouge and Sorciers Façon by eight or he would miss his portkey to New York. From there he had a twelve o’clock international portkey from the MACUSA headquarters back to England. It would be a long trip to get back even by portkey, and then he still had quite a bit to do from there. 

He waved at a few of the people who were up and about in their boats and responded to their hellos. He went around some gators that were lying asleep on the sandbank, and he avoided one of the swamp willows. It was still another three hours up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge, and it was just going on four o’clock. He kept one hand on the wheel of the boat, and the other he stretched out above his head. 

He had a long way to go before he would find his mate, but it would absolutely be worth it in every way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I remember correctly all of the names of the authors translate in some way to either babies or Sex. XD I did use google translate because the only language besides English I can even sort of comprehend is Spanish.  
> Sorciers Falcon should translate to Sorcerer's Way. At least that is my hope. 
> 
> I'll post chapter 8 tomorrow on here.
> 
> Also There are some amusing (to me anyway) hints in this chapter. And some quotes from a few other movies that I like.


	8. Searching, a Package and Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter as promised. This site is now all caught up with its FFN sister.
> 
> Edit: Adjusted the time frame for this bad boy, because when I write I pretty much just type words that make sense, but don't always make chronological sense... I'm Magic like that.  
> And I gave away something in this chapter that I didn't mean to at all, and I removed it!

Five days. Five extremely long days, and they were no closer to finding Harry than before Viktor had received the second letter from his fathers. Unfortunately Hermione, regardless of her own inheritance, had still been skeptical about taking his father’s Sight abilities into any sort of consideration. It was more than a little frustrating to the burly quidditch player since he wanted his mate found now.

“I am sure that this spell…” Hermione was speaking and reading one of her numerous books as she wandered into the study room that was adjacent to the shop. Evidently the twins had built it just for Hermione as part of their courting. It had a special door that the two devils had created so that it would open into whatever library, or bookstore, Hermione wanted entrance to, which of course made it the best gift they could have given her.

“Hermyownee. I am finished with books, and spells, and researching! My father said that there were others who would be able to help us to find him. Why have we not sought out these others to help us locate him or his properties?”

Hermione stuttered. “Well. I just…. There aren’t….I’m not….” She let out a sigh. “We’ve been trying to find others who want to help Harry, but it isn’t easy to find those who want to actually help him, and not just keep using him. Some of our friends have sort of gone underground in a way, so that they won’t be hounded by reporters. We haven’t been able to reach them by any of our more normal means, and we’ve tried several of the less normal ones as well with no success.”

Viktor’s head thunked down hard on top of the top of the table in front of him. He mumbled under his breath, in a language Hermione didn’t understand at all.  

“English Viktor. English!” Hermione laid the book she had been using to research on the table Viktor currently had his head on. “I don’t know what language you are using, nor can I remember any of the  translation spells that I know right now. So please, English!”

“I am simply wondering why a woman as bright as you are has not yet thought of using my mate’s owl? Didn’t you say in one of your letters that his Hedwig could find anyone?” Viktor stated as he raised his head and one of his eyebrows in a questioning manner.

“We…. well…. we”

“Hedwig hasn’t been back since the first care package that we sent right after school ended for the summer.”

“We’re actually pretty sure that something extremely terrible has happened to her.” Those were the voices of the devil duo who were now standing in the doorway that was between the back area of the shop and the study.

“She’s normally back within a day of us sending a care package”

“But this time she never came back.” The two shut the door they had been standing in and wandered over and sat down on the sofa that was directly behind where Hermione was standing.  

“We’re pretty sure that his Uncle….”

They shared a look, and seemed to hesitate on sharing their theory. This made Viktor think that whatever their theory was, it was nothing good at all.

“Well we think his giant, fat, lout of an Uncle killed her.”

Hermione, who had been straightening up the numerous books that were on the table, froze with her hands still clutching one of the smaller books. She made a noise that Viktor couldn’t really describe, but if he was to attempt to he would say it was almost the sound of unbelieving pain. As if she knew she was in pain, could feel the wound, but just didn’t want to believe it. At all. She carefully laid down the book, and petted it once before her hands clenched. In anger or in pain, Viktor wasn’t quite sure. He did however know, that once she finally directed that pain and rage, whatever or whomever ended up on the other side of it, was in for a world of hurt.  

Outside the sky began to darken suddenly, with clouds the color of fresh poured cement and deep, sunless water.

“That would explain quite a lot. It would explain why Harry never sent us any letters, or anything at all to say that he was ok, or at least alive.” Hermione took a huge gasp of breath in and held it. “It. I just.” She took in another breath and let it out slowly. “I think that if Harry’s Uncle really killed Hedwig, his bonded familiar, then Harry would have more than likely… He would have… It would have….He…” Hermione’s face crumpled, then she covered her face with her hands, and started to cry with great heaving sobs.  

The twins were instantly there surrounding her with their arms, even as the clouds that had suddenly appeared overhead, even though the Weatherman had promised a sunny, cloudless day, burst and released the rain they had held within upon the city of London in great torrents.  

Viktor walked to the door to the outside, and stared out at the rain that most of the citizens would be thankful for as it provided a relief from the heat wave. This was taking much longer than he had thought it would. He had already been in England for almost two whole months, and he wasn’t really any closer to finding his mate than he had been when he arrived.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

“Master Harry sirs!” Came a bright, squeaky voice from somewhere in front of the desk Harry sat at. He had stacked on the desk the informative books that Evangelina and her circle had told him would help him learn more about not only his family, but also about everything he really needed to learn as a Lord of two Ancient and Noble Houses. Things that had been kept from him by those he had, once upon a time, trusted with his very life.  

Things like the duties of a Lord, and how to invest. Etiquette and dancing. Finances, duelling, genealogy, and so many other things he should have been learning, but hadn’t. Yet the entire time he had been in the Wizarding World everyone had been assuming that he had known it all, and simply chosen to disregard the written and unwritten rules.

Harry leaned around a stack of books that were mostly about his family and the Lordship of the Potter and Black families. He looked upon the little female House Elf who had said his name, or at least what he could get them to call him.  

“Yes Meaka?” He said politely.

“Yous has a BIG package in the foyer Master Harry sirs! Heavy too!” When Meaka said big she stretched her arms out as far as she could, and stood on her tiptoes to make herself look a little taller. Harry hid his grin and bit back the chuckles that wanted to erupt as he stared at the House Elf that was futilely trying to show him just how big this package was. What Harry got from it though, was that at most, it was bigger than a normal sized House Elf, which didn’t really make it as big as Meaka seemed to think it was.  

Harry stood with a stretch, and walked around the desk. “Thank you Meaka. I’ll be right down.” Meaka snapped her fingers and was gone in an instant. House Elf magic really was an extraordinary thing.

Harry slowly left the study that he had taken for his own, and meandered down to the foyer. He spent the entire time trying to figure out who would have sent him a package. Could it be Blaise? They had spent the last two weeks since they met sending letters back and forth and getting to know each other. It had been wonderful, and extraordinarily easy.

Harry was, in reality, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was waiting for something to go wrong. Something always went wrong, especially when it seemed as if all was going right for once.

Always.  

Harry had practically become accustomed to something going horribly wrong. After all, it wasn't as if he had anything going right when it appeared to be an amazing happening.  

When he was eleven he was told that he was a wizard, after being told he was nothing more than a Freak all his life, and then he entered this amazing world. Except, everyone knew his name, knew what happened to him, and expected him to save them from their "big bad," the Dark Lord Voldemort. They also seemed to expect him to be a reincarnation of his father with his mother’s eyes.

Harry didn't want to be their "savior" or their "chosen one." He especially didn't want to be their "Boy-Who-Lived." He just wanted to be Harry. Just Harry. Instead he ended up going through several obstacles, gaining a stone that could make one immortal, and killing a Professor. He didn’t even get to keep the stone! The only highlight of that year, or so he thought, was the two best friends he had made.

When he was twelve, it was discovered that he was a Parselmouth, which of course caused the entire school to turn against him, except for, well even they had actually. Hermione just for a moment, but Ron had for probably about a day. Ron was always jealous of the fame and money that Harry had. Of course, Harry would have traded it all in a heartbeat for the family that Ron had. Then there was all of that madness with the petrified students, taking on the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, Professor Lockhart who tried to Obliviate both Harry and Ron because they discovered that he was a complete fake and a worse teacher than even Quirrell had been what with his whole “possessed by Voldemort,” stuttering and general bad smell.

Year three had seen him blowing up his Aunt Marge into what was basically a human helium balloon, the whole "Escaped Prisoner" who actually turned out to be his Godfather who was falsely accused of having led to the death of Harry's parents, and who had been imprisoned without a trial. Not to mention the whole "werewolf-as-a-teacher" debacle. Although Moony had been the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they had to teach them. Even if he had tried to eat Ron, Hermione, Snape, Sirius and Harry.  

Fourth year.  

Terrible. Horrible. Absolutely Insane. Endlessly Endangering.

That was how Harry would describe that year. When he had first heard that you had to be seventeen to enter the Triwizard Tournament, he had been thrilled. Perhaps, he thought, he would even have a normal year for once!  

Ha. He should have known to not even think of that idea. "Normal year." Harry hadn't had a normal year since he stopped attending school at a regular muggle school, and instead had gone to Hogwarts. Harry had been entered by a man who was taking Polyjuice to look like a famous, retired auror. Who had then tried to help/murder him. It had been maddening. Not to mention he hadn't been able to even have contact with his newly-discovered Godfather very often because said Godfather was on the run from the Ministry of Magic.  

From the Dragons to the Merfolk to the Maze, Cedric's unnecessary death and Voldemort's Rebirth, fourth year was only overshadowed by the past year.

It seemed that every year had progressively gotten worse than the year before, and that was most definitely the truth when it came to this past year. It all started to go bad around the middle of the summer. He and Dudley had been caught in the storm that they had waited for all summer, and they had been cornered by Dementors. Of course Harry had used his Patronus and saved Dudley from being Kissed, but that had resulted in getting a letter stating that he was to have a trial to determine if he had used underage magic for a good reason, or if he should be expelled from Hogwarts and have his wand snapped.  

His trial was a farce. It was Fudge being an idiot, and having a trial with a full Wizengamot for the minor crime of underage wizardry before a muggle, even with said muggle being his cousin Dudley. Then Dumbledore had appeared, but not answered any of his questions at all, and disappeared just as quick as he had appeared in the first place. Harry was declared innocent, and he got to spend what was left of the summer with Sirius. That had been the best summer he had experienced since third year when he got to wander around Diagon Alley and got free ice-cream from Mr. Fortescue. Who had also helped him with his History homework.

Then he had returned to Hogwarts and been blamed, avoided, taunted, ignored, and just all around treated horribly. Some of those he thought had been his friends had even turned their backs on him. He had gotten all of those dreams from Voldemort, including the one about Mr. Weasley, and none of that was even the worst that had happened.

No the worst thing that had happened was that ridiculously horrible woman Dolores Umbridge. The pink toad. It almost seemed as if she had it out for him. He didn’t like her not one bit. She had tried to shove "ministry approved" idiocy down their throats, and of course they had responded by making the DA, and teaching themselves Defense Against the Dark Arts.  

She had caught on to them, and after they were given up due to what's her face, Marina or Marisa or whatever, they were all forced to write lines with Blood Quills. They filled the Great Hall, and the first years had been hurt the most. With Dumbledore gone though, there was no one there to stop her.  Except Harry with Hermione's help had actually taken care of her.

Well, they had taken her to the forest and the centaurs and Grawp had actually really taken care of her for them. Harry still wasn't quite sure how Dumbledore had convinced the centaurs to give her back to them.  

During his rambling thoughts Harry had made it down to the foyer where there was an enormous box. Well, rather large at least.  

"Is already been checked for any nasty nasty things Master Harry. Nothin show up." Meaka told him from behind the box. Harry nodded his head distractedly.  

After all, who would send him a gift? He wasn't aware of anyone who would send him things other than a few people. None of them had sent him anything since… Since Sirius had fallen through the veil.  

Harry shook off the sadness that thought brought to him. He was sure there had to be some way to get Sirius back. He refused to believe that his Godfather was gone. He simply had to be in some sort of stasis, or maybe another world. Perhaps he could somehow be retrieved safely? He would do some research, channel his inner Hermione, and see what he could find out.

Harry refocused his mind on the matter at hand. The box that was sitting in the middle of the foyer and was actually… Harry took a double look. The box actually was bigger than Meaka. Harry chuckled under his breath. Now he understood why she had made it out to be so large. Because in comparison to her the box was huge.  

Still quietly laughing, Harry took a closer look at the box itself. It was interesting to say the least, and confusing to say the most. There were no distinctive shop names, or even the name of the sender to be seen on the outside of the box. Harry scrunched up his nose in confusion. Who could have sent him such a gift? Better yet, what was in the box?  

Only one way to answer those two questions of course. Harry waved his hand, and the lid of the box popped off, and floated off to the side. On the top of the box were two letters, one in a familiar male handwriting, and one that was not familiar but looked feminine. Harry grabbed the familiar looking one first.

_My Darling Mate,_

_This could be considered a part of my courting gifts to you. I know that you enjoy reading from our various letters, and I wanted to gift you with some of the latest books put out on the market, and some older ones that I know for certain can not be found easily, or at all in many other places, if at any other places._  

_Some of the older ones have been banned, or can only be found in the oldest of libraries. Many have spells or information no longer taught or used. Some have been made illegal by the Ministry of Magic, for they are considered “Dark” in nature of their ingredients or uses._

_I hope you find much joy from them, and I shall endeavor to convince you even more of my love for you, so that we may meet and be one as we are meant to be._

_Yours Ever Faithfully_ ,

_Blaise_

Well. Harry was stunned. This entire box was full of books? New books? And old ones as well? This was a wonderfully thoughtful courting gift! How delightful! Blaise was turning into a brilliant mate, and they hadn't even actually met face to face yet. Well, Blaise didn't really even know who he was, but perhaps that would soon change.  

Harry picked up the letter with the unfamiliar feminine writing. It even had a bit of a perfume scent of lilacs, or lavendar perhaps. Something that lead to the continued belief that the writer was a woman.

_My future son-in-law,_

_My son, Blaise, already speaks fondly of you and yet neither of you have met as you are now. He speaks of permanence, which is rather strange for him. You see my son is a Dryad, a tree spirit. He was born in his human form though, and his father died before he could plant a tree for him, so he has not chosen one himself out of fear that his father’s fate would be his own._  

 _My husband died when a woodcutter chopped down his tree, three months before my son was to be born. Not being a Dryad myself I could not properly plant a tree to be my son's._  

 _I tell you this, because my son has been searching for a tree. Something he has refused to do for his entire life until now. I am so thankful, that I do not even have the proper words to express my happiness and my gratitude._  

 _I have included a few books that were my late husband's in the box. They are books about Dryads, and they are normally found only in the home of one. Since my son will be in your house soon enough, I believe they will be better off there with you. They will tell you all that you will need to know about Dryads, and some other creatures as well that may yet be of benefit to you in the future._  

 _I look forward to the joining of our houses Lord Potter-Black._  

_With gratitude,_

_Lady Isa Zabini_

Harry put the letter from Lady Zabini down in his lap, an expression of amazement and befuddlement on his face. How did she know who he was? He had not told anyone he was here, and Blaise didn't even know who he was yet, so how did she?  

Her knowledge was a mystery, and one that Harry really wanted the answer to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Now we know what Blaise is! Whoop Whoop. 
> 
> Still working on the newest chapter, but it's being a bit of a PITA in that it doesn't want to go where I think it should.....


	9. Remus, Children, and Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I didn't die I promise! I just had life happen. You guys know how that works.   
> I also had to make some sense of my timeline for this story, because I'm definitely not sticking with canon with that shit, but yeah, I was also making it seem like summer was going to happen for an eternity.   
> Here, have this chapter!

As the unexpected rain falling over London broke the virulent heat wave the city had been experiencing, Remus leaned over the sink in his small country cottage, methodically washing each dish he had used that day by hand. He leaned his elbows on the edge of the sink and sighed, bowing his head, and watched his hand go round and round a plate with a sponge repetitively. It had been almost three months since that fateful day in the Department of Mysteries. The loss of Sirius, his mate, had been hard on him, but what had been really surprising was that for some reason the transformations for the last four, almost five months hadn’t been as bad as they had previously. He had just thought it due to a new and improved Wolfsbane potion by Severus Snape, but then he began to throw up in the morning, and sometimes in the evening, and that one afternoon after he had smelled the boiled cabbage that the restaurant he had been heading into was cooking. That experience had lead him to seek out Poppy Pomfrey at Hogwarts.

 

She had performed a diagnostic spell, and then congratulated him on being pregnant. Four months in fact. Remus’ reaction was to faint. Thankfully enough he had been sitting on one of the beds in the Hogwarts Infirmary. He’d awoken a few hours later, and Poppy had been right there with all the information he needed, which had included the fact that he had to cease taking the Wolfsbane. Although she herself wasn’t very certain on how it would go with his transformations every month, but Remus had survived quite a lot, and he was determined that both he and his child would make it through this. 

Now here he was a little over five months gone, bump not very large yet, and still very healthy for a werewolf who transformed during the full moon. Sirius hadn’t even known that they were expecting when he had fallen into the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. He hadn’t known that in another seven months he would be a father. A tear slipped down Remus’ cheek as he remembered that now, Sirius would never know. 

His mind went to their other pup. Harry. Such a wonderful young man, and he had been through so much already. Dumbledore had denied Remus any visitation over the summer, and stated that any mail that was sent to Harry would be automatically redirected to Dumbledore’s office at Hogwarts. 

Remus hadn’t bothered with trying to send any mail after the floo calls from Dumbledore for the first six letters. Remus didn’t believe Dumbledore when he told him that Harry was being well cared for by the Dursley’s. Remus remembered how thin Harry was at the start of his third year, and how much shorter he was compared to the others in his year. Harry could have been mistaken for a first year with how small he was. Not to mention how he would flinch when anyone approached him without making a noise. 

It was worrisome. 

Dumbledore had blocked every attempt both Sirius and Remus made at removing Harry from Privet Drive, and they had tried many times over the years. The last year they had tried the hardest since they had been in Grimmauld Place and safe, as neither adult felt that Harry’s very enthusiastic and immediate positive response to Sirius’ question of coming to live with him was the response of a well-loved or even a child that was being properly cared for. Remus had been able to spend more time with Harry than Sirius had, and while he had been able to observe more, Siri had quickly understood what exactly Harry was going through every summer with the Dursleys.

Probably because of his own family. Sirius had always understood much more than he revealed to others. He was slow to trust, and very few wizards or witches who were alive had that trust. In fact only seven were even trusted enough to have some knowledge of any of Siri’s plans, and only Remus even knew the full extent having been involved in the planning of said plans. All those plans were useless now though, since Dumbledore had informed Remus that he had personally placed wards around Privet Drive to keep Remus specifically, from stepping foot on the property where Harry was kept. That had officially ended any trust Remus had left for his old headmaster. 

Sirius had somehow known though that Harry would have, at the very least, a large magical inheritance, if not come into a creature one. Siri had always known that Harry would since the boy had the blood of the Potters who were some of the last of several different bloodlines, not to mention the Black blood along with the fresh blood from his mother’s line. 

They had never had time to take Lily to Gringotts to do an Inheritance and see where exactly her bloodline was from. After all magic didn’t really come out of nowhere, it came from specific bloodlines that traced back to Merlin and Morgan Le Fay among some others whose names had been forgotten with the passing of time. Muggleborns were simply descendants from squib lines that had started from a pureblood child being disowned and sent to the muggle world to try and survive, if they were left alive at all anyway. Eventually the magic came back into the line after several generations had passed, giving the magic “fresh blood” to enhance instead of the inbred and insane purebloods.  

Remus looked down and noticed that he had completed the dishes quite a bit ago and was simply leaning into the sink with his hands still all covered in suds and his elbows braced on the counter. He sighed and pulled the plug, rinsing off his hands and the sink at the same time. He braced his arms against the countertop and slowly, carefully stretched his back and neck out. Remus leaned back and placed his palms on his lower back. Sometimes it was difficult doing this pregnancy thing on his own. He often wished Sirius was there to help him, and so that he could see him talking to his unborn child, helping to decorate the nursery, and buying all sorts of baby things. Another tear slipped down his face, as he placed one hand on his small bump and rubbed it gently. 

He looked up at a quiet knock on the window in front of him. It was an unfamiliar owl with a letter attached to its foot. He opened the window, and the owl came in to perch on the back of one of his two dining chairs. 

“I suppose that letter is for me then?” Remus asked the owl, who only responded with a head tilt and a look that could be considered a ‘you think, who else could it be for?’ 

Remus walked, well more like waddled really seeing as his pelvis was spreading already even with his small bump, to where the owl had decided to perch. He reached out and took the letter, and then watched the owl fly back out through the still open window. He shook his head, and looked back at the letter. He recognized the writing on the front, as one of his favorite student’s, Hermione Granger.

_ Professor Lupin, _

_ We, by we I mean myself and my mates, the Weasley Twins, have recently come into possession of a sorts, of a very important person.  _

_ Well an important person to one of our mutual important persons.  _

Remus was barely a few sentences into this letter and was already very, very confused. Who on earth was Hermione speaking of?

_ We could use your assistance in finding our mutual important person. Usually he’s referred to as Bambi, but Bambi seems to have completely flown the nest which he had been forced to return to.  _

_ The only problem is, is that we cannot manage to locate his new den. It is imperative that we do, as we have one with us who is almost destined to become one of his most precious.  _

_ If you have any knowledge of a way to contact him, or might even know where he is that would be wondrous. We have been searching for weeks, and have made barely any headway into the subject.  _

_ We believe that what has happened to him this last round at the enforced nest was horrific. We have reason to believe that at the very least his oldest friend was taken from him. _

_ Please Professor Lupin, Remus please, help us.  _

_ Hermione Granger-Weasley _

Remus had tears falling slowly down his face, as he realized that they were speaking of his cub. His cub who had been forced back to those despicable Dursleys again, and if Hermione’s assumptions could be believed, and usually she was right on track, then they had killed Hedwig. But he didn’t know for sure how to contact Harry. 

Remus wiped away his tears, and folded the letter back up. He sighed deeply, and placed the letter in his pocket. He waved his wand and watched as all of his recently washed dishes, dried themselves on a towel and danced away into the proper cupboards of his kitchen. 

Remus waddled into the living room still thinking about the subject of the letter, and just as he was about to sit down, something made him stop. He took a few steps forward, and just in time. Suddenly the wards around his little cottage were ripped down, and he heard several loud pops outside. He quickly summoned the most important items to him that lay about the cottage, and the small bag by the door with the undetectable extension charm on it. He opened it, and ensured that all of the items he had summoned went into it.

“Remus Lupin,” Came a loud, masculine voice from outside the cottage. “You are required as a registered werewolf to present yourself for sterilization by order of the Grand Mugwump, and the British Ministry of Magic. If you refuse to come willingly, we have been given full authorization to use extreme force as we deem necessary.”

Remus gave a quiet snarl. He may be a submissive werewolf, but he was not weak. He has to protect his child. He placed one hand over his stomach as the other held tight to his bag. This child who is the product of his union with his mate, who was no longer here with them. He may not have been able to protect the child he claimed as a cub, but this unborn baby he carries within him, is one he can still protect. 

Remus activated his Potter portkey right as the door came down, and the first auror entered the cottage.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

It had been a long trip by port key from Sorciers Facon to MACUSA headquarters at the Woolworth building in New York. The wait then for an international port key back to England took almost twice the amount of time as it normally did. The International Port key Department had said there was some sort of intense weather pattern over England that was making it harder than it usually was to get good coordinates for one of the port key landing spots. 

All it meant to him was that the five day journey from Grandmama Odie’s old place in the bayou to MACUSA to England was ending up even longer than it should have. It only served to make him frustrated and irritated. His scale patterns kept showing and fading reflecting his irritation. The only thing that kept him even halfway calm was the fact that it really wasn’t in the control of the young lady who kept trying and trying to get a read on any of the portkey landing spots the minute that one came available for longer than just a few seconds.

Because if there was anything less than a two minute window of clear coordinates, then the portkey wouldn’t take. That would mean he could potentially end up anywhere on the planet that had even just one same number in the coordinates. He turned towards the window and looked out over the Muggles, no the no-majs as they called them here. They all went on their ways with no knowledge of the world hidden through a different passage than the one they took into the building. 

He raised his head and looked out, attempting to look across the vast ocean between himself and his mate who Called to him still. ‘Soon, Harry. Soon we will meet, and you will be able to see me as I truly am. Even if I do have to share you with others.’

“Mr. Thomas! We’ve got it!” Cried a delighted, feminine voice from behind him. “We were able to get clear coordinates for right outside Diagon Alley!”

“Well done!” Dean stated as he turned around to face the young woman at the desk who was beaming excitedly. “The sooner I can get to England proper the better I will be!” He walked over to the desk and smiled politely at the young lady. 

“Your portkey Mr. Thomas is set to go off in twenty minutes, and there is a portkey departure area in the Lobby, just down the hallway to the left of the greeting desk. It’s well marked.” The young lady smiled at Dean as he took the grey, pinstriped tie from her. 

Dean nodded, and muttered a quiet “Thank you,” as he turned away. He grabbed his messenger bag, and ensured that his shrunken trunk was in his pocket. As he left the room through the door that said “Lobby” above it in a lit-up gold color. Right before he walked through the door he raised his arm, and his barred owl,  Cheartais, flew to his arm, and shuffled up to stay on his shoulder. 

He purposely walked straight down the middle of the halls, and smirked at all of the outrageous stares he received from all of the other witches and wizards who were within the halls of MACUSA’s headquarters. He could see the sun as it started to set. He should be in London then at about one-thirty in the morning. He should probably attempt to book a room before arriving in London, but the portkey only had around nine minutes left before it went off. 

He could see the  greeting desk just ahead. One more flight of stairs, and then a hallway. Dean would soon be in London again. His excitement was showing in the green and brown scales that were prominent on his hands, arms, and neck. The portkey was showing five minutes left as he turned down the hallway, and saw the sign at the end showing that it was the portkey departure point. 

He reached the spot just as the portkey showed two minutes left. He felt  Cheartais tighten his talons on his shoulder, and then Dean felt the hook behind his navel and they were gone.

Home to London, and his mate.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

Harry had been wandering around the manor lost in thought again. He was thinking of actually meeting Blaise soon. Not just exchanging letters, but meeting face to face. He still just wasn’t completely sure. He had already spoken with Evangelina several times, but he just wasn’t able to make up his mind. That crate yesterday, had been wondrous, and he wanted desperately to thank Blaise to his face rather than in a letter again. He just wasn’t certain about actually seeing the other male face to face. 

He had so many doubts. What if he wasn’t what Blaise was expecting? What if once Blaise actually met him, he decided that he didn’t want to be one of Harry’s mates after all? What if Blaise didn’t want to have to share Harry? So many what if’s crowded his mind as he walked along the halls of the manor.

Harry dragged his hand along the wall beside him as he walked, looking over the wall paper and landscape paintings. Some had animals in them that would lift their heads as he walked by. A very inquisitive unicorn foal followed him along through several paintings. He smiled at the foal and shooed it back to its mother. He watched it canter back through the five paintings it had followed him for. 

He continued down the hallway, with no true destination in mind, and as always the manor decided to direct him to where it felt he should go. This time the destination was with the history of his family in mind. The hallways changed without his notice, and the house slowly guided him to a door covered in different names, Potter, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Peverell, Malfoy, Weasley, Ravenclaw, Black, Le Fay, and many others. 

Harry looked up after he ran head first into said door.  He reached up and rubbed the top of his head where he had hit the solid door, since he had been walking looking down at his feet, instead of with his head up high as Evangelina and Ramses kept telling him. He was always told not to look at the Dursley’s, and no one had ever taught him to be proud of anything about himself, or to even be proud in general, so he looked down at his feet when he walked. It was just more natural for him to look down, especially when he was thinking about things.

He read over all the names that he could, but there were some that were blurry, as if they were known, but not to him, not yet. He gently pushed the door open, and as he stepped in the lights came on, and what he saw, was worth more to him than all of the gold he had in all of his vaults. Which was quite a bit, if he was being honest.

It was a large room filled entirely with portraits. Portraits of previous Potters, and their loved ones. It was amazing. To Harry it was a form of paradise. The knowledge that all of these portraits could talk to him, tell him in person about their lives and deaths. That he could know his family’s past without having to read the dry and boringly written books. 

At the very end of the extraordinarily long hall though, it looked like a large tree on the wall, before Harry could even go any further into the room towards that tree, a house elf popped in. 

“Master Harry. Yous be having a guest. A wolfy guest Master Harry.” said a quiet, young voice.

Harry tilted his head curiously, staring at the young House Elf. “ A wolfy guest Tiptip? The only wolf I know is….” Harry gasped excitedly and darted towards the door..  Tiptip popped away quickly to avoid being run over by Harry in his excitement. Once more the manor assisted Harry in reaching his destination, by moving stairs, halls, and even rearranging some of the doors. 

In no time Harry had reached the portkey room for family and close friends, and sure enough there was Remus looking exhausted and a little chubbier to Harry. Harry yelled “REMUS!” and jumped the last few stairs in order to reach the werewolf quicker. He threw himself at the older man and hugged him tightly.

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

Remus had landed safely in the family portkey room, and had bent over quickly to try and control the nauseous feeling he was experiencing. He breathed deeply through his nose for several minutes and rubbed at his stomach to try and sooth the feeling along with the slight fluttery feelings that he recognized as his baby’s movements. 

His sensitive ears heard the pop of a House Elf appearing in the room, and he looked up at it curiously, waiting to see what it would do.

“Tiptip bes goin to tell Master Harry yous here Master Wolfy, “ the creature nodded decisively and then disappeared with as quiet a pop as it had arrived with. 

Remus was boggled. Harry was here? How did his cub even end up here at Potter Manor? These questions, and many more were thrown out of his mind as he heard swiftly running footsteps. He saw a flash of black hair and then it was like Harry was trying to give him a heart attack as he saw his cub jump the last eight or so stairs and land on the ground floor of the room. He quickly braced himself as Harry ran towards him, and then Remus wrapped his arms around his cub as the boy threw himself at the older male. 

Remus returned the embrace that Harry seemed content to never stop, and placed a kiss on the top of the messy black hair, and inhaled the scent that said  _ cub, pack, submissive, protect, love cub _ . “Harry, Harry, Harry,” he quietly murmured. “How long have you been here? When did you leave the Dursley’s? What’s happened to you? Are you alright? How have you..”

Harry laughingly pulled a little away from the werewolf, and interrupted the endless rattle of questions that Remus was asking him. “Moony, I’ve been here since my birthday. I had an inheritance and I’m okay. I’ve missed you though.” He said as he snuggled back into the older man. “How have you been? How did you even get into the Manor? I thought that no one who wasn’t blood related would be kept out by the wards, and why are you so, so, so…”

Remus smiled down at the younger male as he looked up questioningly, unsure how to properly phrase the question he wanted to ask. “I’m going to have another pup, Bambi. I’m due around the end of December. “

Harry’s eyes grew wide, “I’m going to have a baby sibling? Is it a boy or a girl? Do you need anything special? How does it work with your transformations? Do you have to see a healer or a mediwitch, or a I don’t even know of any others you might would see, but…” as Harry went off into a ramble, Remus once more felt tears building. Here was the boy he thought of as his child, and who clearly thought of him as a parent figure if nothing else, and who had more acceptance of him, a pregnant werewolf than most of the rest of the Wizarding World of Britain period. Tears started to slide down his face, and Harry started to sound a little panicked. “Remus are you ok? Did I say something that upset you? Do you need to rest? What.. oomph” The noise came out of Harry in one big breath as Remus dragged him into a strong, squeezing hug, making Harry contort a bit around his pregnant belly.

“ I love you Bambi. So much. So very much.” Remus said, and Harry melted into the hug. 

~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~^~HJP~

The next three days passed quickly for both Remus and Harry. They had talked about many things, from the mate Harry had already discovered, to how Remus was faring with his pregnancy. They had also discussed Harry going back to Hogwarts, but hadn’t managed to come to a solid yes or no answer on it. 

They had done a bit of exploring together, which had only helped to strengthen their family bond, and also lead them to where they were now. Once more Harry found himself in the hall that had so many of his ancestors’ paintings in it, and that strange tree that was on the farthest wall from the doorway, and was only truly distinguishable due to its expansive size. Remus was in the hall outside of the door, talking with one of the portraits that was there about babies. 

  
Harry went towards the tree, nodding and murmuring greetings to his ancestors as he went. Most watched him with curious eyes, all too eager to meet this descendent of theirs, but also able to see that he was on a mission of discovery. Harry finally reached the tree, and quickly glanced back towards the door. His eyes widened as he saw that from the distance, the door appeared to be miniscule. He shrugged, and turned back to the tree. 

Looking up revealed that he couldn’t even read the name at the top. Actually he couldn’t even truly see the top of the tree! His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Here was so much of his family history all in one place! All the way back to the very beginning, which meant that Harry should be here somewhere as well! He walked all the way to where the base of the tree was placed on the wall, and looked for the lowest branch. 

Sure enough there he was, with his name below a current picture of him, and only his birthday on it. All Harry could think was that hopefully that would be all that was on there for a long time. He followed the branch that lead to his name up, and saw his Parents’ smiling faces. Connecting the two of them was a line with what he supposed was the day they were married. He would have to ask Remus to be entirely sure. He looked to his right, and saw the line that connected his mother to his Aunt Petunia, but he wasn’t really interested in his maternal family, especially since his maternal grandparents had died before he was even born.

Harry shook his head, and looked to the left at his father’s side. The much more expansive side of his family. His paternal grandparents, Fleamont and Euphemia. His head tilted slightly, those were some . . . interesting names. Harry smiled, of course he knew the Wizarding World had some strange names, but then so did the Muggle World. Harry looked a little further over as he noticed that while his dad had been an only child, he had actually had an uncle. Charlus Potter, and according to the tree he had married a Dorea Potter nee Black. 

Harry startled. Black? He was related to the Black family? He looked further, for the tree showed quite a bit of the Black family on it. He followed the lines from Dorea, seeing a Cassiopeia, Pollux and a Marius Black.  Under Pollux Black, He found Walburga, who he remembered Sirius telling him was his mother. Sure enough, there was Sirius’ name on a branch under his parents and next to Regulus’ name. 

He quickly glanced at Regulus’ picture, seeing a young man who looked almost exactly like Walburga, before something he had briefly seen made him pause. Or rather, something he hadn’t seen. 

Sirius’ name on the tree, with a picture of his Godfather above, and his birthday below, didn’t have another date. It showed 3, November 1959, but then there was a dash. 

There wasn’t another date after the dash.

_ There wasn’t another date. _

Harry sat down quickly on the floor before his legs went from the shock. Sirius was alive. 

Sirius. Was. ALIVE.

“MIMZY! MIMZY GET REMUS!” Harry shouted out, never looking away from Sirius’ picture on the tree. “GET REMUS NOW!”

Mimzy popped in with Remus next to Harry, and Remus immediately did a scan of the area, and on finding nothing troublesome, did a quick scan of Harry. 

“Harry, what’s wrong? What’s happened? Why did you yell like that?” Remus spouted out the questions quickly.

“Remus!” Harry looked away from the face of his Godfather on the tree, and looked at the man who was like a father to him. “Remus look at my family tree!” 

Remus looked behind him at the enormous tree on the wall, and didn’t roll his eyes knowing how much Harry wanted to know more of his family without reading the dry history books on them. “Yes Harry, that’s wondrous, but not a reason to yell for Mimzy to fetch me like you did. You had me worried that you had somehow managed to injure yourself or something.”

Harry shook his head excitedly. “No Remus! LOOK at the tree! Sirius is on there!”

Remus now just looked sad. “Well he and James always did call each other cousin, and most Purebloods are related in some form or fashion, so I’m not too surprised that you were able to find him on there. Why I think you’re likely even related to the Weasleys in some way as well. At least I wouldn’t doubt it.”

Harry rolled his eyes at Remus’ obliviousness. He stood up from his seat on the floor, grabbed Remus’ shirtsleeve, and pulled him closer to Sirius’ face on the tree. “No Remus, that’s not what I’m getting at. Look at Sirius’ stuff, and tell me what you see, or better yet what you DON’T see!”

Remus sighed, and looked closer at his mate’s face on the tree. His eyes looked lovingly at the face of the man he had lost, and then looked down at his date of birth. He smiled for he had always loved the fall, but then he looked over the dash. He was expecting to see the date he would always mourn from now on, only . . .  

There wasn’t another date on the tree.

It was Remus’ turn to quickly sit on the ground. 

“Remus are you okay?” Harry knelt down next to the pregnant man. 

Remus was stunned. “Harry,” He whispered. “Harry, there isn’t a death date for Sirius.” 

Harry only nodded. 

“Then . . .Then that means that” Remus whispered slowly.

Harry smiled at him, with tears in his eyes. “That Sirius is alive.”

They both embraced, and began to laugh and cry tears of joy sitting there on the stone tile floor, with a worried Mimzy staring at them both and wringing her hands. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaas! Sirius lives! Because I just need him to, and the only other deaths that really hurt me even half as much as his were Fred and Dobby, and just no.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I finally decided to post this on AO3 as well as on ffn. on ffn my username is Jackie-B-123, and this story is posted under the same title. I'm excited to see how it is received. If you find any mistakes then feel free to comment and let me know, as I do not have a beta for this story.


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